So this is what I’m wondering...how does a city decide whether or not to restore an old library or build a new one? Were some buildings built with better methods and materials than others and therefore they last longer? Is urban renewal at work? Or maybe it is an operating and upkeep issue. Once again I have far too many questions and not enough answers...
However, I was stunned when I stumbled across this picture of the old Buffalo Library (it was also located downtown at 1 Layfayette Square, the same address as the current library). I had no idea that such a beautiful structure had existed on what is now a series of cement planter boxes and a windswept plaza. This Gothic/Romanesque structure was designed by Cyrus Eidlitz (he also designed the famous New York Times Building, the namesake of Times Square, in 1905) and completed in 1887. The cost was over $5 million dollars (roughly adjusted to current dollars). The new modern library was built directly behind it in 1963 for the bargain price of $70 million dollars (adjusted to current dollars), the books were transferred to the new building and this treasure was levelled. Seventy-six years...that’s it? Doesn’t that seem like the prime of life for such a substantial building? The lions in front of the NYPL have been on guard since 1911 and they’re still going strong, The Redwood Library in Newport, RI is built around its original structure from 1750 and “The Old Library” at St. John’s College, part of the University of Cambridge, was built in the 1620s! Even my house, which has had little TLC in the last 50 years, is 130 years old and only falling apart in some places.
Heritage Press Magazine recounts author George Kunz’s memories of the library, “‘drafty, rambling, illogical’ but nonetheless having charm. It leaked, was hot in summer and cold in winter, and the wooden floors creaked. When the Broadway streetcar rounded the bend on Washington Street, the huge windows in the reading room trembled and the floor shook until it passed.”
Are these just the signs of an old building or inferior construction? As I search for answers I truly hope this beautiful building was not destroyed in order to provide quiet floors and geometric interiors. While I know that Buffalo is famous for its urban renewal decisions, I find it hard to believe that they let this jewel go.
Muschamp, Herbert - "Landmarks are not created by architects. They are fashioned by those who encounter them after they are built. The essential feature of a landmark is not its design, but the place it holds in a city's memory. Compared to the place it occupies in social history, a landmark's artistic qualities are incidental."
However, I was stunned when I stumbled across this picture of the old Buffalo Library (it was also located downtown at 1 Layfayette Square, the same address as the current library). I had no idea that such a beautiful structure had existed on what is now a series of cement planter boxes and a windswept plaza. This Gothic/Romanesque structure was designed by Cyrus Eidlitz (he also designed the famous New York Times Building, the namesake of Times Square, in 1905) and completed in 1887. The cost was over $5 million dollars (roughly adjusted to current dollars). The new modern library was built directly behind it in 1963 for the bargain price of $70 million dollars (adjusted to current dollars), the books were transferred to the new building and this treasure was levelled. Seventy-six years...that’s it? Doesn’t that seem like the prime of life for such a substantial building? The lions in front of the NYPL have been on guard since 1911 and they’re still going strong, The Redwood Library in Newport, RI is built around its original structure from 1750 and “The Old Library” at St. John’s College, part of the University of Cambridge, was built in the 1620s! Even my house, which has had little TLC in the last 50 years, is 130 years old and only falling apart in some places.
Heritage Press Magazine recounts author George Kunz’s memories of the library, “‘drafty, rambling, illogical’ but nonetheless having charm. It leaked, was hot in summer and cold in winter, and the wooden floors creaked. When the Broadway streetcar rounded the bend on Washington Street, the huge windows in the reading room trembled and the floor shook until it passed.”
Are these just the signs of an old building or inferior construction? As I search for answers I truly hope this beautiful building was not destroyed in order to provide quiet floors and geometric interiors. While I know that Buffalo is famous for its urban renewal decisions, I find it hard to believe that they let this jewel go.
Muschamp, Herbert - "Landmarks are not created by architects. They are fashioned by those who encounter them after they are built. The essential feature of a landmark is not its design, but the place it holds in a city's memory. Compared to the place it occupies in social history, a landmark's artistic qualities are incidental."
