Buffalo Central Terminal, what a restoration project.

My high-school photography teacher gave his students a task; "Find a Fascinating Building to Photograph". Having immigrated to the US only the year before from Ireland, I quite frankly had no idea where to start, but I knew I needed to go into the City of Buffalo.

Because I was new to driving (being 17), I decided to stay off the 33, so I simply drove down Broadway from our home in Lancaster. In the distance I could see HSBC (Marine Midland at the time), looming in the spring sunlight. But then off to my left there peeked a strange looking building that did not make sense, sitting in the middle of a neighborhood. I had no idea how to get to it, so using its spire as a beacon I weaved my way through side streets off Broadway until I arrived at its front door.

2 June 2007The area looked like a war zone at the time. Debris and broken bricks in the street in front shattered and boarded up windows everywhere in site. Even with the shear erosion of the building, there was a sense of importance emanating from its wonderfully designed façade.

There was no digital photography at the time, typically you brought a roll or two of film with you, and so, I spend hours walking the abandoned property searching for the perfect shots. Looking back, the idea of entering a crumbling building was not the smartest thing to do, but at the time I was just looking for the best photographs I could find.

I have to say I fell in love with the place, its art deco style (similar to Buffalo City Hall and the Empire State Building), and its location (Broadway/Filmore district) draw me back to it see it every time I am in the area.

History:

It was called the “New York Central Terminal” in Buffalo when it opened in 1929 right before the great depression. Designed by architects Fellheimer & Wagner  for the New York Central Railroad. The architects were made famous by their design of the fabulous Union Station in Washington DC.

Concorse during construction

The train concourse is 450 feet (140m) long and includes 14 high-level platforms. Each platform is accessed by a staircase and a ramp. It was built to handle 200 trains per day or 3200 passengers per hour.

The station was unique in the area because of it cogeneration power station that provided heat and electricity to the complex, even during construction. It contained three 28-foot  coal boilers. Sorry to say the power stationbuilding was demolished in 1966.

The station was built almost 3 miles from down town to relieve congestion on the other stations for both passenger and cargo trains. Location it outside the city also allowed rerouting of trains not destined for Buffalo.

When the station opened on June 22 1929, over 2200 people attended to ride the first train, including the mayor of Buffalo.

Then the great depression hit and suddenly the size of the station become its liability, when train traffic fell to a trickle and increased use of the automobile added to the problem. When the depression came to an end thruways started being built and train traffic around the US become almost nonexistent. When soldiers returned from WW2 they wanted cars and houses in the suburbs. The end of the passenger train era was upon us. Finally the station was closed in 1979 after years of disuse. In 1984 the site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in an attempt to prevent its demolishment like so many other Buffalo works of art.

In 1986 the site was sold for a tiny sum of $100,000 in a bankruptcy and many of the historic components of the site were sold at auction. Vandalism and pillaging became the norm at the site and soon, the fabulous station became quite an eye sore to the neighborhood.

In 1997 the Preservation Coalition of Erie county bought the building for $1 and back taxes. Then the restoration began.

I can talk for hours about the WNY Treasure, but I think I will let others continue the story. Here is a link to the wonderful folks at the CTRC who are working to return the site to its origional glory.

Buffalo Central Terminal web site

Flickr photo stream of the terminal

Update on Sunday, June 28, 2009 at 1:58PM by Kevin Leigh (West Herr)

It is so important that we save the Central Terminal in BuffaloThis blog post by Yonah Freemark and Jebediah Reed, they show the true value of a restoration project like the Buffalo Central Terminal

Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball (And The Crappy Stuff Built In Their Place)

6 More Great Train Stations Lost To The Wrecking Ball

Comments

[M Satrock]

I miss seeing the tower since i moved to Jamestown. Will have to stop by and see how it looks now.

[Dave Z]

I Drive by every day.. I'd love to see it back to its old self

[Bob Davis]

Thanks for the update. I boarded the train for Toronto at the NYC Terminal in July 1977, after riding in from Cleveland on the Greyhound. Now I know that it only had about two more years left as an active station. The building looked so impressive from a distance, and so "depressive" close up. I thought it looked like something from "Metropolis" in an old Superman movie. It's good to know there's hope for recovery.

As a side note: when I came into Buffalo, I noticed that the Greyhound station was nearly new, and wondered how it would look after ten or twenty years had passed.