Ellicott Square Building
Encyclopedia
The Ellicott Square Building is an office complex in Buffalo, New York
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...
, USA. It was designed by Charles Atwood of D. H. Burnham & Company
D. H. Burnham & Company
D.H. Burnham and Company of was an architecture firm based in Chicago, Illinois. As successor to Burnham and Root, the name was changed once John Root died in 1891. Root was the chief consulting architect for the World's Columbian Exposition. After Root's death, Daniel Burnham took that title...
, and completed in May, 1896. At the time of its completion, it was the largest office building in the world. In 1896 and 1897, the building was the site of Edisonia Hall
Edisonia Hall
Edisonia Hall was a generic name for exhibition halls that displayed the various inventions of Thomas Alva Edison's company. These included the phonograph, the Vitascope, the Kinetoscope and other such devices....
and the Vitascope Theater, the earliest known dedicated motion picture theater in the world.
At 10 stories high – with the capacity to support 10 more floors – and 447000 square feet (41,527.7 m²), the Ellicott Square Building was the largest office building in the world by floor area until 1908, with the opening of the Hudson Terminal
Hudson Terminal
Hudson Terminal was an urban railway station on the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad in Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the office skyscraper built to serve the terminal.- Station :...
buildings in New York City. It was built at a cost of $3.5 million in less than one year. The building was named after Joseph Ellicott
Joseph Ellicott
Joseph Ellicott was an American surveyor, city planner, land office agent, lawyer and politician of the Quaker faith.-Life:He was the son of Joseph Ellicott ....
, the planner and surveyor who laid out the then-village of Buffalo.
The mantra of architect Daniel Burnham
Daniel Burnham
Daniel Hudson Burnham, FAIA was an American architect and urban planner. He was the Director of Works for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He took a leading role in the creation of master plans for the development of a number of cities, including Chicago and downtown Washington DC...
was "make no little plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood; think big."
Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the exterior of the Ellicott Square Building is made of granite, iron and terra cotta with
a veneer of pearl gray brick. The majestic interior courtyard contains a marble mosaic floor designed by William Winthrop Kent and James A. Johnson
James A. Johnson (architect)
James Addison Johnson was a Buffalo, New York architect known for his design of various architectural landmarks and his use of decorative work that many consider a foreshadowing of art deco design....
. Imported from Italy, the 23 million pieces of marble on the mosaic depict sun symbols from civilizations around the world. The interior court resembles that of the Rookery Building
Rookery Building
The Rookery Building is a historic landmark located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Completed by John Wellborn Root and Daniel Burnham of Burnham and Root in 1888, it is considered one of their masterpiece buildings. It once housed the office of the...
in Chicago.
There are broad stairs on either side and a glass roof in an ornamental steel frame provides natural light. The building features ornate glove lamps, intricate columns, carefully proportioned classical features gracing doorways, marble and brass to trim iron and stone.
The beautiful lobby of the Ellicott Square Building remains a favorite gathering spot for political rallies, weddings and social functions. In 1984 it was used for hotel scenes in the movie The Natural
The Natural (film)
The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close and Robert Duvall...
.