The West Genesee Street sidewalk next to the Statler Towers in downtown Buffalo will remain closed until further notice after small pieces of decorative cornice tumbled from the building onto the sidewalk Thursday.

After learning of the incident, which did not injure anyone, Mayor Byron W. Brown had a letter hand-delivered to the bankruptcy trustee overseeing the shuttered building, demanding action be taken to secure the structure.

“I wanted the Statler Towers trustee, Morris Horwitz, to understand that I take the health and safety of our citizens very seriously,” Brown said. “On the advice of my commissioner of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services, James Comerford, I informed Mr. Horwitz that he is required within five days to engage a firm to conduct an inspection of the building’s exterior masonry.”

Officials of the city’s Department of Public Works, after consulting with officials in other city departments, decided to close the West Genesee Street sidewalk immediately, from Franklin Street to Niagara Square.

City fire personnel responded to the scene at about 11:10 a. m. and determined the broken pieces of cornice fell from either the third or fourth floors, according to Battalion Chief Patrick Britzzalaro.

“The cornice is made of sand and lime mortar and deteriorates with weather, and it looks like the weather caught up with it,” Britzzalaro said.

This was not the first time cornices of the building have fractured and fallen.

The cornice from the top of the 18-story structure on the northwest corner at Delaware Avenue and West Mohawk Street fell to the sidewalk last October. Again, no one was hurt. But debris flew as far as 60 feet away, causing the temporary closings of sections of Delaware and West Mohawk until workers could remove other sections of loose cornice.

The landmark building was recently closed after efforts to sell it were unsuccessful.