Author: Elstner Publishing Company

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-27

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 9781330429679

Excerpt from The Industries of Buffalo a Résumé of the Mercantile and Manufacturing Progress of the Queen City of the Lakes Buffalo boasts of many costly and imposing buildings, public and private, devoted to a variety of purposes. The most conspicuous examples of architectural embellishment are the City and County Hall (shown on page 6), the Buffalo Library and Art Building (page 18), and the new Music Hall (page 58). Some description of these fine structures will not be out of place here. Buffalo Library and Art Building. This fine structure may well be called the pride of Buffalo. The building forms an irregular triangle, the apex of which fronts on Washington street and the base on Ellicott street, the two long sides facing - main front on Broadway 300 feet, rear front on Clinton street 200 feet. The edifice is of Hulberton red sandsone, brick and terra cotta, with red slate roof, and is fire-proof throughout. Including the ground, the entire cost was about $350,795. Work was commenced in September of 1884, and the finishing touches will be added this spring. It was, however, formally opened February 7th, and is occupied by the Buffalo Library Association, the Buffalo Historical Society, the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts, and the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. All of the main floor and a portion of the second are devoted to the library, the arrangements being of the most perfect kind, with a capacity for 170,000 volumes, the association now owning 57,000 volumes. The basement, on a level with Ellicott street by reason of the descending grade, is the home of the Society of Natural Sciences. That portion of the second floor not required for library purposes is occupied by the Fine Arts Academy, and the third floor by the Buffalo Historical Society. All in all, the building is one of the most substantial and elegant ever erected for the purpose, and a credit to the Library Association and the city. The Association was organized in 1830; present officers: President, Jewett M.Richmond; treasurer, John L. Williams; curator, Herbert P. Bissell; directors, Frank F. Williams, Charles A. Pooley, Porter Norton, E. Corning Townsend; real estate commissioner, Charles D. Marshall ;superintendent, Josephus N. Lamed. Buffalo Music Hall. This handsome new edifice, to be completed during the summer of 1887, is the property of the German Young Men's Association, and was erected to replace the former Music Hall, built in 1882-83, and burned March 25, 1885. The work of restoration was begun in August, 1885, and the corner-stone laid May 31, 1886. The dimensions are, 190 feet front by 200 feet deep; style, romanesque; cost, about $200,000. The front is of red sandstone, the rear and side walls of brick. The Main-street front will contain grand entrance ways; on the ground floor will be located a drug-store or confectionery, library, restaurant, bowling alley and banquet-room; on the second floor a small music hall (seating capacity, 1,130), assembly rooms, singing society quarters, offices, etc. In the rear is the grand music hall (seating capacity, 5,100), dressing-rooms, etc. The society was originally organized in 1841, and incorporated in 1840. The City and County Hall, built at a cost of $1,400,000, and dedicated in March, 1870, is of granite, with a tower containing an electrical illuminated clock, and is adorned with four representative statues. It is three stories high, not including a finished basement, and furnishes quarters for all the city and county officers as well as the courts. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com