Buffalo City Block Demolished for "Progress"
The year is 1895. The scene of the crime is
the city block bordered by Swan, Main, South Division and Washington Streets.
The
entire block, four streets of businesses and factories, are about to be demolished
entirely. To see what the streets looked like
prior to the demolition, click on each arrow below.
And, when they were finished demolishing an entire city block, 240 feet
(Main & Washington Streets sides) by 200 feet (Swan & South Division),
this is the hole that remained on May 31, 1895.
Why did no civic-minded preservationists complain about the wholesale demolition
of
an entire block so that this "mammoth" 10-story structure of steel,
concrete,
brick and terra cotta could be constructed, casting its enormous shadow over
the
human-scaled streetscape?
The answer is simple. There were no preservationists in 1895, at least none
interested in saving vernacular
brick structures. And the Ellicott Company, continuously owned by descendents
and successors of Joseph Ellicott,
owned the entire city block in question, which was commonly called the 'Ellicott
Square Block."
And so, in 1 year's time, they constructed the first office building in the
U.S. to cover an entire block, opening on May 1, 1896.
Tenants were already secured and eagerly awaiting their move into the 'modern'
structure. Buffalo's building boom was
well under way!
To read about the moving day activities, see this Buffalo Evening News article.
Read about the new Ellicott Club, founded to meet in the Ellicott Square Building.
Those interested in architectural and statistical information about this building, see the pages in the Buffalo History pages here (takes you out of this site).