SAH Conference Tours

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All the guided tours on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday will depart from the Lobby of the Buffalo/Niagara Convention Center (BNCC) near the SAH 2013 Annual Conference Check-in/Information Desk. The Sunday tours will meet in the Lobby of the Hyatt Regency Buffalo near the stairs leading to the Sun Garden Room, which is one level up from the Atrium Bar area. A sign will be posted in these areas: “Tours Meet Here.”

Volunteers with signs will check you in and collect tickets then turn you over to your Tour Leader(s). If a bus is involved, the volunteer will show you to your bus.

Times noted for each tour indicate the time the tour departs the BNCC or the hotel and the time the tour will return to the BNCC or the hotel.

Visit the registration page for details on signing up for tours.

TR1 Boston Valley Terra Cotta

Tricia Aubrecht, Boston Valley Terra Cotta, Tour Leader

Located just south of Buffalo, Boston Valley Terra Cotta’s manufacturing facility has been providing ceramic materials to the construction industry since 1889 and is the only U.S. manufacturer of ceramic rain screen systems. BVTC began work in the architectural terra cotta restoration market in 1983 with the restoration of Adler & Sullivan’s Guaranty Building in Buffalo. Since then, the company has continually expanded and upgraded their manufacturing lines and collaborated on numerous research and design initiatives with visiting artists, scientists, and architects. On this visit, tour the facility during operating hours. Family-owned and -operated, their team of artisans, architects, and engineers use hand-pressing, ram-pressing, slip-casting, and extrusion processes to create exceptional architectural terra cotta for each custom project.

• 1:00–5:00 p.m. 
• Maximum number of participants: 40 
• Mobility Level: 3* 
• Cost: $45, includes transportation, $5 admission fee 
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR2 Eliel Saarinen’s Kleinhans Music Hall

Theodore Lownie, Hamilton Houston Lownie Architects; Christopher N. Brown, Kleinhans Music Hall; Denise Prince, Erie Community College, Tour Leaders
 
Kleinhans Music Hall, a National Historic Landmark, was built at the behest of philanthropists Edward and Mary Kleinhans. Constructed during the height of the Great Depression, Kleinhans received additional funds from the Public Works Administration. World-renowned architect Eliel Saarinen, with assistance from son Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames, designed a modern masterpiece destined to become the home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Acoustical considerations affecting Saarinen’s design and the resulting acoustics of the hall will be discussed. This tour explores the music hall, including its backstage areas and other behind-the-scenes spaces, as well as the hall’s picturesque setting on Frederick Law Olmsted’s “Symphony” Circle.

• 1:30–4:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 45
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $40, includes transportation
• AIA/CES: 2.5LU

TR3 Buffalo Basics Walking Tour

Marla Bujnicki, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leader

We will walk through downtown Buffalo and learn about the city's rich historical past and its plans for the future. Landmarks like Adler & Sullivan's Guaranty Building, Burnham's Ellicott Square Building, and Esenwein and Johnson's Electric Tower will provide the backdrop as we listen to stories about Buffalo, including local restaurants and bookstores. Learn why Buffalo was once called the City of Light, and get a feel for why it is known as the City of Good Neighbors today.

• 2:00–4:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants:  25
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 2LU

TR4   Sacred Spaces of Buffalo (Part 1)

Chuck LaChiusa, Buffalo Architecture & History, Tour Leader

Tour some of Buffalo's most renowned churches, including Richard Upjohn's St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral and the unique brickwork in the Lombard-Romanesque Blessed Trinity.

• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $40, includes transportation
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR5   Buffalo 101: Downtown Landmarks

Fred Schrock, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leader

Buffalo’s downtown includes works by master architects, such as the Guaranty Building by Adler & Sullivan, the Ellicott Square Building by Daniel Burnham, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral by Richard Upjohn, as well as local landmarks by Green and Wicks, and Esenwein and Johnson.  The setting for these landmarks—the historic street plan—was designed by Joseph Ellicott in 1804.  Experience these downtown landmarks on this introductory morning walking tour. 

• Sold Out - wait list only
• 7:30–8:30 a.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1LU

TR6   Louise Bethune and the Lafayette Hotel

Rocco Termini, Lafayette Hotel, developer; Kelly Hayes McAlonie, AIA, Tour Leaders

When the Lafayette Hotel first opened in 1904, it was touted as one of the finest hotels in the nation. The hotel was the magnum opus of Buffalo architect Louise Bethune (1856–1913), the first woman architect admitted to the American Institute of Architects. Learn about this pioneering architect and tour the hotel, which recently underwent a multimillion dollar restoration. Originally designed in the French Renaissance style, the hotel lobby was updated in the Art Moderne style during the 1940s. Public spaces of the Lafayette have been painstakingly restored, while the upper floors, featuring hotel rooms and luxury apartments, have been opulently renovated. The Lafayette Hotel reopened to rave reviews within the past year.

This tour is sponsored by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation and the Gender Institute, University at Buffalo.

• Sold Out - wait list only
• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants:  30
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $10
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR7   Queen City Downtown Walking Tour

Martin Wachadlo, architectural historian; Marla Bujnicki, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leaders  

Buffalo’s downtown includes works by master architects; for example, we will see the Guaranty Building by Adler & Sullivan, the Ellicott Square Building by Daniel Burnham, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral by Richard Upjohn, as well as local landmarks by Green and Wicks, and Esenwein and Johnson. The setting for these landmarks—the historic street plan—was designed by Joseph Ellicott in 1804. Visit these and other downtown landmarks on this walking tour. This is an extended tour of Buffalo 101: Downtown Landmarks.

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 50
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR8   Maintaining a Working Historic Theater: Shea’s Buffalo

Doris Collins, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Tour Leader

Shea’s Performing Arts Center is elaborate in its architecture and decor. The theater was designed by architects Cornelius W. and George L. Rapp. It opened in 1926 as a movie house under the direction of Michael Shea. Shea’s boasts interiors by Tiffany Studios and elements of the Spanish Baroque. In addition to the theater’s lobby, house, stage, and backstage areas, recent work done to restore Shea’s to its original grandeur will be examined.

• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $28, includes $8 admission fee
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR9   Buffalo 101: Downtown Landmarks

Fred Schrock, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leader

Buffalo’s downtown includes works by master architects, such as the Guaranty Building by Adler & Sullivan, the Ellicott Square Building by Daniel Burnham, and St. Paul’s Cathedral by Richard Upjohn, as well as local landmarks by Green and Wicks, and Esenwein and Johnson. The setting for these landmarks—the historic street plan—was designed by Joseph Ellicott in 1804. Experience these downtown landmarks on this introductory morning walking tour. 

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 7:30–8:30 a.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1LU

TR10   Old Post Office and ECC Culinary School

Denise Prince, Erie Community College, Tour Leader

One of Buffalo’s finest examples of adaptive reuse today, the Old Post Office originally opened in 1901 as a post office and federal office building. Abandoned in the 1960s, the building stood empty for nearly two decades. Following a successful preservation campaign and renovation, the old post office was reborn as the City Campus of Erie Community College. The campus retains much of the building’s historic character, including a skylight and atrium. The tour of the Old Post Office concludes with a buffet lunch prepared by students of the Culinary Arts Department at Erie Community College. 

• 11:45 a.m.–1:45 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 30
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $34, includes lunch in the Culinary Arts Dept. at Erie Community College
• AIA/CES: 2LU

TR11   Art Deco Downtown

Jennifer Walkowski, Clinton Brown Company Architecture, Tour Leader

This walking tour features downtown Art Deco buildings of the 1920s and ’30s when Buffalo was at the height of its civic, commercial, and economic prosperity. Buildings on the tour will include the Rand Building (1929), with a design reminiscent of the famous Empire State Building in New York City, and the former Buffalo Industrial Bank (ca. 1929). The tour will conclude with a look inside one of the nation's Art Deco architectural gems, Buffalo City Hall (1929–31), which offers the finest views of the region from its observation deck.

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR12   Sacred Spaces of Buffalo (Part 2)

Chuck LaChiusa, Buffalo Architecture & History, Tour Leader

Tour some of Buffalo's most renowned churches, including the collection of Tiffany and LaFarge windows in Trinity Episcopal; the Tiffany interior of Westminster Presbyterian; and the J&R Lamb interior of Delaware Avenue Baptist.

• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $40
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR13   Erie Canal Harbor

Maureen Evans, Master Docent, Buffalo Tours, Tour Leader

Experience Buffalo's oldest and newest development, from the remnants of the 1825 Erie Canal to the ever-changing waterfront of 2013. See the remains of the canal's rich past and view future plans as they develop into an internationally famous destination.

• Sold Out - wait list only
• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 1
• This tour will utilize the Metro Rail system (no cost)
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR14   Queen City Downtown Walking Tour

Martin Wachadlo, architectural historian; Marla Bujnicki, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leaders  

Buffalo’s downtown includes works by master architects; for example, we will see the Guaranty Building by Adler & Sullivan, the Ellicott Square Building by Daniel Burnham, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral by Richard Upjohn, as well as local landmarks by Green and Wicks, and Esenwein and Johnson. The setting for these landmarks—the historic street plan—was designed by Joseph Ellicott in 1804. Visit these and other downtown landmarks on this walking tour. This is an extended tour of Buffalo 101: Downtown Landmarks.

• 12:00–1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 50
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU

TR15   Millionaires’ Row

Richard Guy Wilson, University of Virginia; Margaret Yacobucci, Theodore Roosevelt National Historic Site, Tour Leaders

In Buffalo’s glory days, the mansions of Millionaires’ Row constituted a tightly knit neighborhood where everyone knew each other and many were related. Now a National Historic District, we’ll discuss these architectural treasures and the business barons who built them. The tour includes interior visits into mansions such as the Butler (McKim, Mead & White), the Clement (Green & Wicks), and the Lockwood (Marling & Burdett). Admission is also included to the restored Wilcox Mansion, a former 1838 army barracks where Theodore Roosevelt was inaugurated after President McKinley’s assassination in 1901.

• 1:00–3:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $50, includes transportation, $7 admission fee
• AIA/CES: 2LU

TR16   Buffalo’s Abolition Heritage

Terry Robinson, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leader

Buffalo’s heritage in the abolitionist movement still lives on in the community. On this tour, we will see the oldest African-American church in the city (1845) and the Nash House Museum, where one of its reverends lived for sixty years. Other highlights include the Colored Musicians Club opened in 1918, the 1939 Willert Park housing project built by the WPA, African American heritage sites in Forest Lawn Cemetery, and the Merriweather Library, with its interconnected interior spaces designed to resemble an African village.

• This tour has been cancelled
• 1:00–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 30
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $65, includes transportation, $25 admission to Nash House Museum and Forest Lawn Cemetery
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR17   The Power Trail: History of Hydroelectricity at Niagara

Tom Yots, SAH Local Co-Chair and Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Tour Leader

The birth and refinement of hydroelectric-power generation and transmission occurred in the Niagara Falls area over a 100-year period, from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries. Some of these sites remain visible and accessible today, while others are literally buried beneath a new landscape created through natural and human-made phenomena. The story of each of these sites is interwoven into a full picture of the development of power in the Niagara Falls area.

• 1:00–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 50
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $40, includes transportation
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR18   Adler & Sullivan’s Guaranty Building

The Guaranty Building was Adler & Sullivan’s last collaboration; Adler withdrew from the firm as the building was under construction. Opened in 1896, it is recognized as one of Sullivan’s best works and an outstanding example of his innovations. While similar to his 1890 Wainwright Building, which combines masonry with terra cotta for ornament, the Guaranty Building makes ornament the focus through the use of terra cotta to cover two full exterior surfaces. In 2006, Hodgson Russ began an extensive two-year renovation project that included a complete renovation of the interior; painstaking repair and restoration of art glass and other external features; and a restoration of the lobby that simulates the original light court. In 2008, the firm began renovations to the building’s distinctive terra cotta façade. The firm’s renovations complement rather than compete with Sullivan’s design, resulting in a building that looks forward to a bright business future in Buffalo while respecting the proud history of both the building and the city it calls home. This tour will walk from the Convention Center (BNCC) to the Guaranty Building for a guided tour of the exterior, lobby, and second floor.

• 12:00– 1:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 1.5LU 

TR19   Re-Making the Post-Industrial House and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

Dennis Maher, University at Buffalo, Tour Leader

Within the post-industrial city, the domain of the house may be the most fertile terrain for social and cultural innovation. Architect and artist Dennis Maher will lead a tour of several houses in Buffalo that have recently been sites for speculative architectural projects. The tour will include a house purchased by UB thesis students at city auction and designed and renovated as the students' thesis work. It will include a "net-zero" house being retrofitted by a local nonprofit neighborhood housing initiative. And the tour will also visit Maher's own residence in Buffalo, the interior of which is the site of continuously evolving immersive artwork assembled from found objects and residual building materials. The tour will culminate at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, where Maher will discuss his exhibition "The House of Collective Repair," which will be installed as part of his 2012 Albright-Knox Artist-in-Residence appointment. The gallery visit will be enhanced by a discussion of the architecture of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery by Brian Carter of the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo.

• This tour has been cancelled
• 1:00–5:30 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 20
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost $40
• AIA/CES: 4.5LU

TR20  Darwin Martin House Complex, In-depth

Mary Roberts and Eric Jackson-Forsberg, Martin House Restoration Corporation, Tour Leaders

The tour will take you to the first and second floors of the Darwin Martin House, the first and second floors of the 1903 Barton House (the first Prairie Style house built on the site), as well as the 1909 Gardener's Cottage, where you will see Frank Lloyd Wright's concept for affordable housing beautifully executed. The unique relationship between architect and client will be examined to provide a more detailed context for this architectural masterpiece.

Part of the tour is outside.

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 1:00–4:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 44
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $68, includes transportation, $28 admission fee
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR21    Buffalo’s Allentown Neighborhood

Martin Wachadlo, architectural historian, Tour Leader

The Allentown Historic District, located just north of downtown, contains Buffalo’s richest and best-preserved concentration of late nineteenth-century architecture, rounded out with buildings in a comprehensive range of styles from Federal through Mid-Century Modern. More than twelve hundred buildings are within the district, and much of the streetscape has remained unchanged for a century. We will see important works by H. H. Richardson; J. L. Silsbee; S. S. Beman; McKim, Mead & White; Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson; Eliel and Eero Saarinen; and John La Farge and Louis Tiffany, interspersed in a sea of well-preserved buildings by local practitioners. Several exceptional interiors both public and private will be visited.

• 1:00–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 3
• Cost: $20
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR22    The Richardson Olmsted Complex and Buffalo Central Terminal

Monica Pellegrino Faix, Richardson Complex; Barbara Campagna, Barbara A. Campagna/Architecture and Planning, PLLC; Paul Lang and Mark Lewandowski, Central Terminal Restoration Corporation, Tour Leaders

Repurposing massive, specific use, vacant, historically and culturally significant structures is not easily accomplished. The Art Deco Buffalo Central Terminal, a National Register former railroad station, and the Richardson Olmsted Complex, a National Historic Landmark former asylum designed by H. H. Richardson and F. L. Olmsted, are prominent structures that are undergoing transformation. Tour these architectural jewels to learn about their past, present, and future, with special access to rarely seen spaces. As both sites are vacant and without heat, cold weather clothes may be necessary.

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 1:00–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 45
• Mobility Level: 3
• Cost: $50, includes transportation, $10 admission fee
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR23    Buffalo’s Olmsted Parks

Francis Kowsky, University at Buffalo; Brian Dold, Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Tour Leaders

The tour visits the historic parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux and the later Olmsted firm between 1868 and 1898. It begins in Delaware Park, the large "country park" that Olmsted and Vaux planned as the main element in a citywide system that included two other parks and several parkways. Starting at Delaware Park’s Marcy Casino overlooking the park lake, we will follow the parkways, the first in America, and avenues of the 1870 Olmsted and Vaux system to the waterfront parks on the West Side: Front Park (1870) and Riverside Park (1898). We will then head to South Park (1892; the man-made lake is a fine surviving example of a naturalist Olmsted water feature) for a visit to the Botanical Gardens (the 1898 conservatory is one of the largest by Lord & Burnham), followed by a drive through the Southside Parkway system (1890s) to Cazenovia Park (1894). The tour will conclude with a visit to the main East Side park, Martin Luther King Jr. Park (called the Parade when first created in 1870 and later known as Humboldt Park when remodeled in 1896), before returning to downtown. 

• 1:00–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 45
• Mobility Level: 2
• Cost: $47, includes transportation, $7 Botanical Gardens admission fee
• AIA/CES: 4LU

TR24  & TR28  Urban Agriculture and Urban Sustainability: MAP and PUSH and Renewing the Larkin District

Britney McClain, PUSH; Diane Picard, MAP, Tour Leaders

Meet two organizations working to enhance the built environment in Buffalo's West Side. People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) mobilizes residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality affordable housing, expanded local hiring opportunities, and a fair economy. The Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) promotes local economic opportunities and access to affordable, nutritious food. See some of the dozen-plus properties at various stages of completion, from restored storefronts to rehabbed homes using cutting-edge green design techniques. Then we will visit the Growing Green urban farm, which has three working greenhouses, urban chickens, aquaponic fish, worm composting, and many vegetable-growing spaces. 

Chris Hawley, City of Buffalo, Tour Leader

Known as "The Hydraulics" by its earliest residents, this heavily industrial section of Buffalo was settled as early as the 1820s. Within decades the bustling Canal-era neighborhood had become headquarters of the sprawling Larkin Soap Company, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Administration Building, and several other large corporations. In recent years the area has experienced a renaissance, with abandoned former industrial buildings and storefronts reopened for modern use. The former Larkin warehouse is now a ten-story, Class A office tower, with architectural firms, restaurants, and more moving in nearby. This tour contextualizes the complex industrial history of the center and its astounding revival.

• 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 20
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $42, includes transportation, $2 admission to MAP farm
• AIA/CES: 3LU

TR25    Reyner Banham in the Concrete Atlantis: The Grain Elevators of Buffalo

Lynda Schneekloth and Hadas Steiner, University at Buffalo, Tour Leaders 

The Buffalo Grain Elevators are the largest collection of urban elevators and well known from Reyner Banham’s A Concrete Atlantis. On this tour we will explore the grain elevator collection and describe the various types of elevators in the city, providing a short history of each. The elevators will be discussed in light of their own history and Banham’s interpretation of them. This will be followed by a walking tour inside and around three elevators and their accompanying buildings: Marine A, Perot, and the American. Each of these provides a different facet of the history of grain transshipment and the following aspects will be explored: the marine leg, construction techniques, malting and beer, and considered reuse.

The tour will involve walking in a former industrial landscape. It is very important to wear sensible shoes and dress for the weather, as we will be outdoors and in unheated structures for this tour. 

• Sold Out - Wait list only
• 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 30
• Mobility Level: 3
• Cost: $55, includes transportation, $15 Silo City admission fee
• AIA/CES: 3LU

TR26    Roycroft Campus

Alan Nowicki, Roycroft Campus Corporation, Tour Leader

The Roycroft Campus in East Aurora is the best preserved and most complete complex of buildings remaining in the United States of the "guilds" that evolved as centers of craftsmanship and philosophy during the late nineteenth century. The Campus, designated a National Historic Landmark district in 1986, contains nine of the original fourteen structures including the Inn, the Chapel, the Print Shop, the Furniture Shop, and the Copper Shop. This tour also includes lunch at the historic Roycroft Inn and a visit to the private home of author Kitty Turgeon, a veritable house museum to the Arts and Crafts movement.

• 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 50
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $73, includes transportation, $25 lunch with a soft beverage at the Roycroft Inn (tax and gratuity included), and $8 admission fee to Roycroft Campus
• AIA/CES: 7LU 

TR27    Buffalo Modern

Jennifer Walkowski, Clinton Brown Company Architecture, Tour Leader

While Buffalo is usually thought of for its nineteenth-century architectural gems, the city also plays host to an excellent collection of modern architecture from the twentieth century. This tour will cover a broad range of modern styles and works, ranging from 1930s Art Deco examples of early modern architecture to classic 1950s Miesian boxes to 1970s Brutalism. Highlighted on the tour will be Buffalo City Hall (1929–31), which offers a unique and bold modern interpretation of civic architecture from the interwar period; the Tishman Building (1957–59), a rare example of a Miesian glass and steel curtain wall skyscraper in Buffalo; and a drive through the Shoreline Apartments complex (1970), part of a comprehensive plan designed by noted Brutalism pioneer Paul Rudolph. View Minoru Yamasaki's One M&T Building (1964–66), an excellent Modernist tower set on a plaza that features sculpture by Harry Bertoia. Buffalo presents a wide range of modern architecture, from residential to commercial to religious uses.

• 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 25
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $40, includes transportation
• A book on the M&T Plaza will be available for optional purchase: $15.
• AIA/CES: 3LU

TR28    Renewing the Larkin District

Chris Hawley, City of Buffalo, Tour Leader

Known as "The Hydraulics" by its earliest residents, this heavily industrial section of Buffalo was settled as early as the 1820s. Within decades the bustling Canal-era neighborhood had become headquarters of the sprawling Larkin Soap Company, including Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Administration Building, and several other large corporations. In recent years the area has experienced a renaissance, with abandoned former industrial buildings and storefronts reopened for modern use. The former Larkin warehouse is now a ten-story, Class A office tower, with architectural firms, restaurants, and more moving in nearby. This tour contextualizes the complex industrial history of the center and its astounding revival.

• 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 1
• Cost: $40, includes transportation
• AIA/CES: 3LU

TR29    Frank Lloyd Wright’s Buffalo

Jack Quinan and Richard Chamberlin, Martin House Restoration Corporation; Patrick Mahony, Graycliff Conservancy, Tour Leaders

Frank Lloyd Wright was brought to Buffalo in 1902 by executives of the Larkin Soap Company, a prominent soap manufacturer and mail-order business, to build a new office building. Demolished in 1950, a fragment remains of the brick wall which marks the northeast corner of the site. The Larkin Soap Company and several Prairie Style homes built in Buffalo were significant to Wright’s career as his first commissions outside the Midwest. The tour will visit the sites of the Larkin Soap Company and the William R. Heath House (1903). In-depth tours of the summer home of Isabelle and Darwin Martin, called Graycliff (1927), and the Darwin Martin House Complex (1903–6) will be offered. A visit to the Davidson House (1908), currently a private residence, will also be included.

Please note that the first 20 registrants will have Jack Quinan as their guide through the Darwin Martin House Complex. 

• Sold Out - Wait list only
  
• 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
• Maximum number of participants: 40
• Mobility Level: 3
• Cost: $115 includes transportation, $28 Darwin Martin House admission fee, $28 Graycliff admission fee, and Box Lunch
• AIA/CES: 8LU