Buffalo at the Crossroads

Peter H. Christensen

Description

Buffalo at the Crossroads is a diverse set of cutting-edge essays. Twelve authors highlight the outsized importance of Buffalo, New York, within the story of American urbanism. Across the collection, they consider the history of Buffalo's built environment in light of contemporary developments and in relationship to the evolving interplay between nature, industry, and architecture.The essays examine Buffalo's architectural heritage in rich context: the Second Industrial Revolution; the City Beautiful movement; world's fairs; grain, railroad, and shipping industries; urban renewal and so-called white flight; and the larger networks of labor and production that set the city's economic fate. The contributors pay attention to currents that connect contemporary architectural work in Buffalo to the legacies established by its esteemed architectural founders: Richardson, Olmsted, Adler, Sullivan, Bethune, Wright, Saarinen, and others. Buffalo at the Crossroads is a compelling introduction to Buffalo's architecture and developed landscape that will frame discussion about the city for years to come.Contributors: Marta Cieslak, University of Arkansas - Little Rock; Francis R. Kowsky; Erkin Ozay, University at Buffalo; Jack Quinan, University at Buffalo; A. Joan Saab, University of Rochester; Annie Schentag, KTA Preservation Specialists; Hadas Steiner, University at Buffalo; Julia Tulke, University of Rochester; Stewart Weaver, University of Rochester; Mary N. Woods, Cornell University; Claire Zimmerman, University of Michigan

Sujets

• Local history
• History of the Americas

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501749797
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 19 Mo

Extrait

BUFFALO AT THE CROSSROADS

BUFFALO AT THE CROSSROADS

T HE PAST, PRESE NT, AND F UT URE OF AME RI CAN URBANI SM

P e t e r H . C h r i s te n s e n , E d i to r

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Copyright © 2020 by Cornell University

This book is made possible by the New York State Coun cil on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2020 by Cornell University Press

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Christensen, Peter H. (Peter Hewitt), editor. Title: Buffalo at the crossroads : the past, present, and future of American urbanism / edited by Peter H. Christensen. Description: Ithaca [New York] : Cornell University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020009390 (print) | LCCN 2020009391 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501749766 (cloth) | ISBN 9781501749773 (paperback) | ISBN 9781501749780 (epub) | ISBN 9781501749797 (pdf ) Subjects: LCSH: Architecture—New York (State)— Buffalo—History. | Architecture and society—New York (State)—Buffalo—History. | Buildings—New York (State)—Buffalo. | Buffalo (N.Y.)—Buildings, structures, etc.—History. | Buffalo (N.Y.)—History. Classification: LCC NA735.B83 B834 2020 (print) | LCC NA735.B83 (ebook) | DDC 720.9747/97—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020009390 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020009391

Cover image: Prudential Building, 28 Church Street, Buf falo, NY; Louis Sullivan, architect; built 1894–1895. Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC. Photo: Jack E. Boucher, July 1971.

Co nte nts

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Buffalo at the Crossroads P ETER H. C HRISTENSEN

Pa r t I : B u f fa lo a s Te r r i to r y  1.“The Olmsted City”: Heritage Landscapes and Civic Identity in TwentiethCentury Buffalo S TEWART W EAVER  2.The Peace Bridge and the Rhetoric of Hospitality at the USCanada Border P ETER H. C HRISTENSEN  3.Of Silo Dreams and Deviant Houses: Uneven Geographies of Abandonment in Buffalo, New YorkJ ULIA T ULKE Pa r t I I : B u f fa lo a s U to p i a  4.“In the Thought of the World”: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Administration Building J ACK Q UINAN  5.Max Abramovitz’s Temple Beth Zion: “An Airport for the Spirit, Where the Soul Takes Off for Heaven”F RANCIS R. K OWSKY  6.Putting the Rust in Rust Belt: Architectural Tourism and Industrial HeritageA NNIE S CHENTAG

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vi CONTENTS

 7.Anticipating Images: Buffalo Industry under Construction, 1906–1943C LAIRE Z IMMERMAN Pa r t I I I : B u f f a lo a s E x p e r i m e nt  8.In the Buffalo Community, but Not of It: Polish Migrants, Urban Poverty, and the American Nation in Buffalo at the Turn of the Twentieth Century M ARTA C IE  LAK  9.Upstate and Downstate AvantGardes: Artists and Artist Communities in Postindustrial Buffalo and New York City during the 1970s M ARY N. W OODS 10. Lake Effect: Art and Childhood in 1970s BuffaloA. J OAN S AAB Pa r t I V : B u f fa lo a s Pa l i m p s e s t 11. Rust Belt Cosmopolitanism: Resettlement Urbanism in Buffalo, New YorkE RKIN Ö ZAY

12. Cropping the View: Reyner Banham and the Image of BuffaloH ADAS A. S TEINER

CodaP ETER H. C HRISTENSEN

Notes 267 Bibliography 299 Contributors 315 Index 319

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A c k n o w l e d g m e nt s

This book, first and foremost, would not be possible without the contributions of its eleven authors. They have written engaging and diverse essays that I anticipate will have a significant impact on the study of Buffalo specifically and American urbanism generally. This project began when I was hired as the curatorial consultant at the Buffalo Architecture Center (now the Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo), housed in the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center, a building designed as a col laboration between Henry Hobson Richardson and Frederick Law Olmsted. Despite my living in nearby Rochester, a city that came to its own florescence at the same time as Buffalo, Buffalo's clear and outsized importance as a labo ratory for architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning quickly drew me into its history. In my initial year of consulting work I enlisted the help of two of this book's authors—Marta Cieślak and Annie Schentag—as well as Eitan Freedenberg as curatorial assistants. All of them brought a dis tinct passion and commitment to their research that has helped to shape both the content and conception of the book. Friends and colleagues including Brian Carter, Frank Kowsky, Toshiko Mori, and Mary Roberts engaged me in fruitful discussions about the city and its cultural landscape. Elizabeth Demers at Johns Hopkins University Press took an initial interest in the project, and when it was considered to be too far out of their geographi cal purview, she laid the groundwork for its successful enlisting with Michael McGandy at Cornell University Press. Michael and his team, including Bethany Wasik, Jennifer Savran Kelly, Brock Edward Schnoke, and the copy editor Glenn Novak have insured the careful and thoughtful navigation from manuscript to finished product. I am also grateful to the two anonymous readers for their excellent criticisms, which certainly made this book stronger. Finally, I am grateful to two sources that helped fund this publication: the New York State Council on the Arts and the dean's office of the College of Arts, Sciences and Engineering at the University of Rochester. As funding in the humanities decreases and books become more expensive to produce, insti tutions like these are essential to the continued success of scholarly publishing.

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Map 1 Buffalo. Source: United States Geological Survey.

BUFFALO AT THE CROSSROADS