Architecture critic finds beauty in Buffalo
N. Y. Times review lauds city’s treasures
Buffalo, take a bow. Sunday, the New York Times architecture critic lavished glowing praise on Buffalo in an Arts & Leisure review splashed across three pages with seven photographs.
In the review, headlined "Saving Buffalo’s Untold Beauty — a counterpoint to an era when almost everything seems overexposed" — Times critic Nicolai Ouroussoff calls Buffalo “home to some of the greatest American architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.” He specifically cited architectural “marvels” designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, Louis Sullivan, Frederick Law Olmsted and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Ouroussoff praises a “grass-roots preservation movement driven by . . . a vibrant coalition of part-time preservationists, amateur historians and third-generation residents who have made reclaiming the city’s history a deeply personal mission.”
“These residents have come to recognize through first-hand experience that social, economic and preservation issues are all deeply interwined,” Ouroussoff writes.
Ed Healy, spokesman for the Buffalo Niagara Convention & Visitors Bureau, said he was “astounded” by the scope, length and prominence of the review.
The New York Times Sunday edition has a readership of 1.4 million, the nation’s highest, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, plus millions more who visit the Times Web site. Healy said the high-profile piece is bound to bring more tourists to Buffalo eager to experience the city’s rich heritage and further put the city on the map for cultural tourism.
“This is by far the most significant article written about Buffalo in the seven years I’ve been with the CVB,” Healy said. “A story of this magnitude and this profile is going to reverberate for some time.”
Ouroussoff doesn’t ignore Buffalo’s economic misfortunes or civic debate on how to move forward in the face of daunting challenges. But he suggests Buffalo could help point the way for other struggling cities seeking to capitalize on their past in moving boldly into the future.
“At a time when oil prices and oil dependence are forcing us to rethink the wisdom of suburban and exurban living, Buffalo could eventually offer a blueprint for repairing America’s other shrinking postindustrial cities,” Ouroussoff writes.
Mayor Byron W. Brown said the critique was a big plus for Buffalo.
“Recognition of Buffalo’s remarkable architecture continues to place our city among the nation’s must-see destinations, Brown said. “We know what we have in terms of actual examples of America’s most renowned architects. Now with features like in [Sunday’s] New York Times, more people will appreciate Buffalo’s unique position in our country’s legacy of urban architecture.”
Catherine Schweitzer, chairwoman of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, said the Times review left her “speechless,” starting with the dramatic photograph on the Arts cover taken through an oval window of the Guaranty Building looking out over Ellicott Square.
“The coverage by the New York Times is unprecedented for our community. Perhaps this article will help us better understand the value and importance of our built environment as an opportunity for branding our future,” Schweitzer said.
Howard Zemsky, vice chairman of the Richardson Center Corp., former board president of the Martin House Restoration Corp. and principal funder and managing partner of the Larkin at Exchange Building — all projects praised in the review — said the article validated those who have worked to save and build on Buffalo’s past.
“To the preservationists who are often misaligned as obstructionists, for your fortitude and foresight, take a victory lap,” Zemsky said.
“Whether we’re talking about a business or a community, the maxim of playing to your strength rings true. For Buffalo, our architecture, art and history should be on everyone’s short list of core strengths that we build upon, and I think the article bears this out,” Zemsky added.
Healy predicted the article would also open doors to more convention activity in Buffalo involving architects, historians and cultural groups. The National Trust for Historic Preservation plans to hold its national convention here in 2011.
Healy said a staffer from the Washington, D. C.-based organization had pitched the story idea to Ouroussoff after coming to Buffalo in August and being “blown away” by what she saw.
Ouroussoff spent Oct. 27 in Buffalo before going to Toronto to interview architect Frank Gehry, said Schweitzer, one of two people who represent New York on the National Trust’s national board of advisers. The Times photographer came for two days the following week.
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