Richardson Olmsted Phase One

The Towers of the Richardson Building

The Richardson Olmsted Complex, formerly the neglected remains of the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane, celebrated completion of phase one of its renovation. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held this morning. The Hotel Henry will be just one of the new tenants in the facility whose phase one renovations began in 2014. Today's cutting will serve as an update and momentum-builder for the continued work on the sprawling National Historic Landmark. Not long ago, the complex was very close to joining the list of incredible buildings that shortsighted people have taken a wrecking ball to in this great city. (Don't get us started on the old Buffalo Library). Spooky, spectacular, morbid or magnificent, whatever your description for the place, it looks like it's here to stay and it's coming along nicely.

Colonial Cicle

Bidwell Memorial Colonial Circle

Bidwell Parkway meets Richmond Avenue at Colonial Circle. The original name of the circle was Bidwell Place, so named for Buffalo civic leader and distinguished soldier Daniel Bidwell. At the center of the circle resides the bronze and marble statue dedicated to his memory. Bidwell rose through the ranks as he participated in many prominent battles of the Civil War. General Daniel Davidson Bidwell was killed at the Battle of Cedar Creek in1864. The sculpture depicting the General on horseback was created by Sahl Swarz in 1924.

Influence

 Rooftop Pagoda

Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House on Jewett Parkway. 

 http://www.darwinmartinhouse.org/

                                           

Homeopathy Hospital

All that remains of Millard Filmore Hospital is the original Homeopathic Hospital building that was dedicated in 1911. At the time of its creation, modern medicine was still looked upon with suspicion, as questionable treatments and formal medical training were in the beginning of their evolution. With the acceptance of medical science, after the advances born of the First World War, the building became an actual medical hospital in 1923. The structure would be renamed for Buffalo's favorite son, Millard Filmore. From that point the hospital expanded and grew to encompass property on Gates Circle and an adjacent nursing school on Linwood Avenue. The hospital served the Buffalo community for many years at this location. In October of 2015, implosion of the former hospital occurred and subsequent dismantling of remaining buildings began. The ghostly structure of the original building still remains even as the replacement building nears completion. News concerning the use of the historic Homeopathy Hospital building has been scant.

Mineo and Sapio

Mineo and Sapio

Chicken wings might be the first food associated with Buffalo, but we have another natural resource that has been perfected over 95 years. Without exaggeration and in our estimation, it can be said that Mineo and Sapio produces the finest Italian sausage in America. Serve this sausage to someone not from Buffalo and we guarantee they'll stop and ask you where you got it. Started as a neighborhood meat market in 1920, the business has become a household name in this neck of the woods, known for outstanding flavor and quality. John Mineo's original store was located on Massachusetts Avenue on the city's predominantly Italian Westside. In the 50's John's son-in-law, Ralph Sapio,  joined the company, eventually taking the helm. The current owner, Michael Pierro, starting working at the store when he was fifteen. So, you get the idea. The business is a family enterprise, long on tradition and quality. Still on the Westside, on Connecticut Street, the company has always married tradition with innovation. They led the way in the area of prepared foods when an Italian would never allow someone else to make their meatballs. Of course, after tasting them, it was a different story. Mineo and Sapio products are found in the most discriminating kitchens, and never ones to be left behind, their food truck is also out on the road.

                                                                    Mineo and Sapio

Saranac Synagogue

Saranac Synagogue

Located on a residential street just off Hertel Avenue, the Saranac Synagogue has been a place of worship since 1931.
The building is currently home to the congregation of Achei Tmimim. The understated temple is an independent Orthodox synagogue.

http://www.saranacsynagogue.org/

Designs On Main Street

Ceiling at Hearth and Press

Hearth and Press, on Main Street, brings new meaning to the borrowed Hemingway title, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, providing an open, minimalistic, yet warm, environment that compliments their fare, which is fresh and true. Rustic meets modern Euro in this unique and always welcoming downtown spot.

http://www.hearthandpress.com/

Restaurant Week

Cafe 59, Allen Street

Happy Spring! It's that time again. Enjoy the 2017 specials of Restaurant Week from March 20-26.

Cafe

Cafe Con Leche

Let this beautiful and anonymous coffee find you on the morrow. Carpe Diem and show some love to town full of some talented baristas. Forge some bonds over the bean, National Barista Day is a little over a month away.

Érinn go Brách

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Erin Go Bragh, Ireland Forever, an Anglicized variant of the Gaelic, Éirinn go Brách. 

Aside from the obvious and important religious significance of St. Patrick's Day and, of course, the commercialized frivolity of the Irish Carnival, the holiday, as we know it, must be appreciated as a great American political, cultural protest. The way Americans have come to keep the day has become a worldwide phenomenon beloved by many, from school children, who enjoy the festive wearing of the green, to businesses seeking to cash in on their own green. Under some of the unfortunately acceptable racist stereotypes there lies the simple act of marching, assembly, that is ultimately American and freedom loving. George Washington, himself,  encouraged the holiday as a way of showing solidarity with Irish he hoped to have join the Continental army in Philadelphia, Years later as the holiday gained popularity Irish Roman Catholics first marched through the aristocratic neighborhoods of New York City by design, in streets that they would have found themselves unwelcome only a short time earlier. Green was the color of revolution back in the "ole sod" and they were hanging people for wearing it. In the land of the free it was another story. Without those that brought us St. Patrick's Day there would be no Puerto Rican Day Parade, no Polanski Day, no West Indian Carnival or any of the other ethnic outpourings we enjoy and share. It's nice to think that perhaps that spirit is being respected when people of all backgrounds don the green on March 17.

Pierce-Arrow Showroom

1932 Pierce-Arrow Sedan 

The legacy of beautiful horseless carriages is what most people associate with George N. Pierce, founder of the Pierce- Arrow Motor Car Co. These spectacular vehicles were proceeded by his manufacture of tricycles and bicycles, as well as birdcages and iceboxes. A Victorian era citizen was often judged by their possession of a decent birdcage. Pierce's arrival to Buffalo at a young age and meteoric manufacturing climb is quite a tale, due in large part to his work ethic and marrying well. Several buildings throughout the city are testament to his and Buffalo's place in automotive history. One such structure is the former Pierce-Arrow Showroom at Main and Jewet.

The building has traded owners throughout the years with bankers being the latest occupants. The restoration and bank transformation we see today was started and completed by Greater Buffalo Savings Bank at the beginning of this century. The building's original details; plaster coffered ceilings, Art Deco lighting/ fan fixtures, original tile marble and brass throughout, have been restored to their former glory. The added authentic, antique banking elements like deposit tables and cashier cages, keep the building true to form. There is no plexi- glass in here. The experience of banking in this building makes skipping the drive-thru a must. The pièce de résistance is the 1932 Pierce-Arrow Sedan appropriately gleaming through the giant display windows of the bank.

Buffalo Bison

Bison @Buffalo Zoo

Buffalo(nians) know how to dress for the weather. Actually, these guys are Bison, a completely different species. According to The Buffalo Zoo website, 60 million of these majestic creatures grazed the North American plains in 1700 and by 1989 there were less than 900. The site also states that Bison prefer wide open spaces, so that's why we've dropped a note in the zoo's suggestion box, calling for the Bison to have free reign of Delaware Park. Let the golfers try yelling at this 1500 lb beauty when she cuts across the 4th hole.

Snow Day

Snow returns to Delaware Park

Don't call this a comeback. Winter returns to Western New York for a brief engagement. Enjoy.

Grab Your Scarf

Wall of Scarves, Mes Que

It's definitely scarf weather this week. So, wrap yourself in your team colors at Buffalo's soccer sanctuary, Mes Que.
Major League Soccer has just started at the beginning of March.

http://mesque.com/

Canisius

Moon Over Canisius

Born from Buffalo's first Roman Catholic College, Canisius High School was established in 1870. The Jesuits purchased the current location in 1944 from the city of Buffalo. The all-boys school has several features of architectural importance that owe a great deal to the Masons, who owned and built on the site starting in1924. Buffalo City Hall architect, John Wade added to the unique Jacobethan style of the original 1918 structure.

Buy Local

Mural on Roosevelt Ave.

At the corner of Roosevelt and Bailey Avenue, a mural states the all important philosophy of "keeping it in the family".

Bailey Avenue is one of the longest commercial corridors in the city, working its way from the suburbs to the city neighborhoods of Kensington and Lasalle, through the Eastside to Kaisertown and all the way to South Buffalo. A stroll down this long and historic street is a window into a glorious past, urban missteps and what potentially could be.

Watercolor

Art Gallery Aross the Lake

Watercolor at the edge of Mirror.

Great Northern

Great Northern Grain Elevator

The owners of the building that is also known as the Pillsbury Elevator, have requested permission to demolish said building several years ago.
Archer Daniels Midland is strictly business, nothing personal, so don't expect historic appreciation from these cats. A decision from the Preservation Board has been pending, based on "conditions", which ADM has yet to meet. So the Great Northern sits, haunting Granson Street, between the Buffalo River and the City Ship Canal.

Werner Photography Building

The patina of the copper framed studio atop the Werner Photography Building crowns the structure that was built in 1895. The architect, Richard A. Waite, would add The Werner Building to his extensive and accomplished career as one of the great architects of the post-Civil War era. The building at 103 Genesee Street stands as example, and,unfortunately, a rarity in the realm of commercial architecture dedicated to the business of photography.

Star Wars. Nothing but Star Wars.

Rogue One 

May the Force be with you. 

Bubble Hockey

The Rare Bubble Hockey Game

Bubble Hockey on the US/ Canada border, located at Providence Social, on Rhode Island, /Buffalo.

http://www.theprovidencesocial.com/