Buffalo City Hall
Encyclopedia
Buffalo City Hall is the seat for
municipal government in the City of Buffalo
, New York State. Located at 65 Niagara Square
, the 32 story Art Deco
building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, Wade & Jones.
At 378 ft (115.2 m) height or 398 feet (121.3 m) from the street to the tip of the tower, it is one of the largest and tallest municipal buildings in the United States of America and is also one of the tallest buildings in Western New York. The design was by John Wade, chief architect, with the assistance of George Dietel. The friezes were sculpted by Albert Stewart
and the sculpture executed by Rene Paul Chambellan
.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1999.
City Hall was built by the John W. Cowper Company, the same firm who built the Statler Hotel and the Buffalo Athletic Club, also on Niagara Square. The cost of building City Hall was $6,851,546.85, including the architect's fees, making it one of the costliest city halls in the country.
Ground was broken on September 16, 1929 and the cornerstone was laid May 14, 1930. The building was completed on November 10, 1931, though parts of the building were occupied as early as September 1931. The building was dedicated in July 1932. City offices were previously located in County and City Hall
.
In the summer of 2009, Buffalo City Hall started undergoing renovation on the south wing.
Buffalo's tallest building until 1970, City Hall has 32 stories, 26 of which offer usable office space. The total floor area is 566313 square feet (52,612.2 m²) and the footprint of the site on Niagara Square is 71700 square feet (6,661.1 m²). There are 1,520 windows from the first to the twenty-fifth floor. A practical design feature is that all of them open inward, making window washers unnecessary. It takes approximately ten days to clean them all. There are eight elevators to the 13th floor and four to the 25th floor. Curtis Elevator Company furnished the first elevators, with additional elevators supplied later by Otis Elevator Company.
There are 5,000 electrical outlets, 5,400 electrical switches, and 21 motor driven ventilation fans. One hundred and ten miles of copper wire weighing 43 tons, and 47 miles or 180 tons of conduit pipe, serve the building, as well as 26 miles or 5 car loads of underfoot conduit. There are either 138 or 143 clocks (counts vary) regulated by a master clock in the basement, and 37 fire alarm stations distributed throughout the building.
It was originally equipped with 375 telephones and a master switchboard. External illumination was provided from dusk to midnight by 369 flood lights with an average candlepower of 350.
City Hall was designed and built with a non-powered air-conditioning system, taking advantage of strong prevailing winds from Lake Erie. Large vents were placed on the west side of the building to catch wind, which would then travel down ducts to beneath the basement, to be cooled by the ground. This cooled air was then vented throughout the building. Winds off the lake were usually strong enough to power air through this system.
In 1939, construction defects were discovered. Apparently, many anchors were left out in the walls behind the granite facings. and water seeped in, causing extensive damage.
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
municipal government in the City of Buffalo
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
, New York State. Located at 65 Niagara Square
Niagara Square
Niagara Square is a public square located at the intersections of Delaware Avenue, Court Street, Genesee Street, and Niagara Street in Buffalo, New York. It is the central hub of Joseph Ellicott's original radial street pattern that he designed in 1804 for the then village of New Amsterdam...
, the 32 story Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building was completed in 1931 by Dietel, Wade & Jones.
At 378 ft (115.2 m) height or 398 feet (121.3 m) from the street to the tip of the tower, it is one of the largest and tallest municipal buildings in the United States of America and is also one of the tallest buildings in Western New York. The design was by John Wade, chief architect, with the assistance of George Dietel. The friezes were sculpted by Albert Stewart
Albert Stewart
Albert Stewart was an American sculptor born in Kensington, England.He arrived in America in 1908 and was orphaned shortly thereafter. Through the intervention of a wealthy benefactor, Edwin T...
and the sculpture executed by Rene Paul Chambellan
Rene Paul Chambellan
Rene Paul Chambellan was an American sculptor, born in West Hoboken, New Jersey.Chambellan studied at the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian in Paris and with Solon Borglum in New York City. Chambellan specialized in architectural sculpture...
.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1999.
Construction
Ground was broken on September 16, 1929 and the cornerstone was laid May 14, 1930. The building was completed on November 10, 1931, though parts of the building were occupied as early as September 1931. The building was dedicated in July 1932. City offices were previously located in County and City Hall
County and City Hall
County and City Hall, also known as Erie County Hall, is a historic city hall and courthouse building located at Buffalo in Erie County, New York. It is a monumental granite structure designed by noted Rochester architect Andrew Jackson Warner and constructed between 1871 and 1875. The building...
.
In the summer of 2009, Buffalo City Hall started undergoing renovation on the south wing.
Buffalo's tallest building until 1970, City Hall has 32 stories, 26 of which offer usable office space. The total floor area is 566313 square feet (52,612.2 m²) and the footprint of the site on Niagara Square is 71700 square feet (6,661.1 m²). There are 1,520 windows from the first to the twenty-fifth floor. A practical design feature is that all of them open inward, making window washers unnecessary. It takes approximately ten days to clean them all. There are eight elevators to the 13th floor and four to the 25th floor. Curtis Elevator Company furnished the first elevators, with additional elevators supplied later by Otis Elevator Company.
There are 5,000 electrical outlets, 5,400 electrical switches, and 21 motor driven ventilation fans. One hundred and ten miles of copper wire weighing 43 tons, and 47 miles or 180 tons of conduit pipe, serve the building, as well as 26 miles or 5 car loads of underfoot conduit. There are either 138 or 143 clocks (counts vary) regulated by a master clock in the basement, and 37 fire alarm stations distributed throughout the building.
It was originally equipped with 375 telephones and a master switchboard. External illumination was provided from dusk to midnight by 369 flood lights with an average candlepower of 350.
City Hall was designed and built with a non-powered air-conditioning system, taking advantage of strong prevailing winds from Lake Erie. Large vents were placed on the west side of the building to catch wind, which would then travel down ducts to beneath the basement, to be cooled by the ground. This cooled air was then vented throughout the building. Winds off the lake were usually strong enough to power air through this system.
In 1939, construction defects were discovered. Apparently, many anchors were left out in the walls behind the granite facings. and water seeped in, causing extensive damage.
External links
- Buffalo City Hall history
- Buffalo City Hall photos
- Emporis listing
- City of Buffalo
- Buffalo City Hall, 65 Niagara Square, Buffalo, Erie County, NY: 27 photos and 15 data pages, at Historic American Building Survey
- Buffalo City Hall - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com
- Buffalo as an architectural museum http://www.buffaloah.com/a/niagSq/65/city.html