How many times have we witnessed the demolition of a historic building, and wondered about the history of the edifice? Not only the architectural elements, but the people that lived there. The events that took place. Those that found safe harbor – shelter from the storm. Others that fell in love, and started families. You’ve heard the expression, …if these walls could talk. Well, in this case, the walls do talk. And what stories they have to tell.
Frances R. Schmidt is the author of FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams. The main character of the book is Fred, who was built in 1900. Throughout the pages, Fred talks about all of his favorite memories of the people who came to reside within his walls – the refugees, the immigrants, the young families, the old couples… and their hopes and dreams. It’s the oral history of a building, during the span of a hundred and twenty years, recounting the life stories of “generations of his ethnically and culturally diverse tenants and their families who arrived in America from all over the world.”
FRED’s intimate observations reveal to him (and to us) what it means to be human.
Fred, as you might have already guessed, could be any one of Buffalo’s at-risk buildings. Buildings that have seen better days, but underwent steady and painful declines. Pipes ripped out. Bricks crumbling. Windows broken. Busted doors. The type of building that was built by proud and skillful hands. As Buffalo suffered from years of decline, so did the historic building stock. Fortunately, many of the buildings were not demolished, to make way for parking lots or cheap, bland replacements. Fred is one of those buildings.
Yes, Fred actually made it… long enough to witness the rebirth of Buffalo, Frances told me.
“I worked at D’Youville,” she said. “One day in 2006, I was driving down Niagara Street and a building spoke to me [laughing]. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before. It was raining hard, and I had to get to the office. When I got there, I scribbled it down. The building wanted me to tell its story before it was too late. For years I thought about writing a book, to tell the story. In 2012 I went to the building and told it that I was going to write a book about its history.”
With possible demolition looming, Frances’s goal was to tell the building’s tales before it was too late.
Frances, who had had other works published, but not a researcher per se, set out to tackle the project. In order to do that, she reached out to a couple of friends and put a team together – each person with unique abilities and talents.
“It took us 9 years to research the history of the building and the occupants,” said Frances. “We tracked down every person that we could, and chapter by chapter the book unfolded. It was an amazing process.”
Several years into writing the book, Frances met up with a friend named Mary for lunch, who she hadn’t seen in decades. She began to talk about the building, which, she said, did not have an actual name. That’s when Mary said, “Ever since I was a little girl, I see things, but I keep quiet about it. Fran, the building’s name is Fred.” Even though Fred never spoke to Frances since that initial day, he would talk to Mary, who would then relay the messages.”
Throughout the course of writing the book, Frances said that she learned a lot about Fred’s inhabitants, but she also learned about Fred’s friends.
The Santasiero’s building, just down the street, is one of Fred’s friends.
“Our group met there a lot to discuss the book,” said Frances. “The restaurant was one of the places where the first immigrants were able to afford to eat. These are the same immigrants that lived in Fred – after they got their first jobs they could afford to live in a modest apartment. They would walk down the street to eat, or get their citizenship, or go to college. They were Sicilian, Italians, Germans, and later on they were descendants from enslaved people from Africa, realizing the dreams of freedom. It makes you rethink what these buildings are. We made sure that we researched the research, to get the historical truths and to be accurate when talking about the inhabitants.”
As for Fred, today he is alive and well. One of his tenants is Free Street Tavern.
“Honest to God, there was a time when Fred was sold, and then resold, and I kept wondering if he was going to make it,” Frances told me. “Today he has been fully renovated, with beautiful apartments and Free Street Tavern… that is Fred! It’s very suiting that that business is in there – the name is so relevant. I hope to have a book signing there in the future.”
Now, that would be a story come full circle. I’m sure that Fred would be beaming with delight, to hear Frances’s words echoing throughout the room. I plan on being there on that auspicious day, to say hi to Fred, to listen to the stories, as told by Frances, and to thank our lucky stars that there are those out there who still believe in preserving these old buildings that have plenty of stories and lessons to share.
Frances is hoping to get her self-published book into some smaller book stores (she is awaiting responses), but in the meantime you can find it at Amazon. She is also awaiting to hear about a possible solo presentation at The Central Library.
The novel was honored to be selected for a first chapter professional reading on the Novel Writing Festival website (August 2020).
The INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARD recognized FRED: Buffalo Building of Dreams by Frances R. Schmidt in the category Historical Fiction as a Distinguished Favorite in 2022.