2008 Open-Air Autobus tours start Memorial Day Weekend!

2008 marks the first full year of The Campaign for Greater Buffalo's Open-Air Autobus tours of Buffalo history and architecture. The bus was a hit from Day One with both riders and people in the streets.

You'll get commentary from the experts in architecture and historic preservation, conveyed in a memorable way. There is really no better way to see the city, and we have hosted not only individuals, but block clubs, classes, alumni groups, and others who find it a great shared experience.
 

Most tours are $20, and only $10 for children 12 and under. You learn a lot, and have a lot of fun. (Groups of 20 or more save 20%)

CALL 716-854-3749 FOR LATEST INFO OR TO RESERVE TODAY.

We strongly recommend reservations, and accept MasterCard and Visa.

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We thoroughly enjoyed our few days as tourists in Buffalo, but the Open-Air Bus tour was definitely the high point. Thank you for offering an event that was eye-opening about the history and architecture of Buffalo, and a fun time too. We had a blast!

             Your neighbors down the Thruway,

                                     S.S and M.S.

                                      Rochester

You, too, can see Buffalo in a totally new way on The Campaign for Greater Buffalo's fabulous Open-Air Autobus. We offer over a dozen different tours, from the Buffalo Whirlwind Tour of architectural highlights to an in-depth tour of the Buffalo waterfront.

Most tours are $20, and only $10 for children 12 and under. You learn a lot, and have a lot of fun.

 

CALL 716-854-3749 FOR LATEST INFO OR TO RESERVE TODAY.

We strongly recommend reservations, and accept MasterCard and Visa

EVERYONE LOVES THE OPEN-AIR AUTOBUS!

Buffalo: The Whirlwind Tour
Give us 2 hours and we’ll give you the whirl
6:30pm, Thur. and Fri. June 19-July 31
6:00pm, Thur. and Fri. Aug 1-Aug 29
1 pm, Sat. July 5- Sept. 27
2-hr. tour, $20. Meet at Bidwell Pkwy. @ Elmwood Ave.

Pound for pound, Buffalo is one of the most architecturally interesting cities in the country. Population-wise, Buffalo is squarely in the middle of the pack, yet, because of historical circumstance, it has an architectural richness unmatched by any city its size and by many much larger.  Louis Sullivan’s Guaranty Building and the soaring Art Deco mass of City Hall are just two highlights of 150 years of local history and architectural styles. You’ll see scores of beautiful buildings and houses by prominent national and international architects. Skyscrapers, music halls, parkways—you’ll see why it is hard not to brag about Buffalo’s architecture.

Some other notable buildings on the tour are the 1876 City & County Hall, Daniel Burnham’s Ellicott Square, and Richard Upjohn’s St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, and significant buildings by H.H. Richardson, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the parkways of Frederick Law Olmsted.

Snap, Crackle & Pop: Art Deco in Buffalo
11 am, Sun. Sept.7. 3-hr. tour. $25. Meet at Bidwell Parkway & Elmwood Ave.

New this year, the Art Deco Buffalo tour looks at well-known and overlooked buildings in this wildly popular architectural style. Art Deco took the nation by storm in the Twenties, and Buffalo is witness to the fact that anything that could be built, was built in Art Deco, from city halls to train stations, apartment buildings, highway piers and bridge abutments.
Art Deco and its related styles have been called a lot of things— Futuristic, Jazz Style, Art Moderne, Streamline Style, Skyscraper Style, Populuxe— but everyone agrees it crackles with electricity. Not to be outdone, we’ll also look at Vestigial Deco, Neo Deco, and Deco-dence.

Styles of Buffalo: Historic Neighborhoods
11 am, Sun. July 20 & Sun. Aug. 17. 2-hr. tour. $20. Meet at Elmwood Ave. at Bidwell Pkwy.

The 40-year period from 1860 to 1900 can be described as the Buffalo’s Golden Age. In 1880 Buffalo was the thirteenth largest city in a country of exploding cities. In 1900, it was number 8, its wealth and power at its peak. Buffalo’s elite hired the best architects for their houses, office buildings, and churches. We even sent our mayor — Grover Cleveland —to the White House. Twice.

Titans of commerce, legions of laborers, and masses of managers all had to live somewhere, so Buffalo’s housing stock of this period, and extending through World War I, is rich at all levels and styles.

See Buffalo’s historic neighborhoods up close on this tour of the Allentown, Delaware, and Linwood historic Districts, plus the grandeur of Chapin and Lincoln parkways and Bedford Avenue, the buckle of Buffalo’s bungalow belt! Beautiful examples of everything from Italianate to Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, Queen Anne, Craftsman, and ‘Stockbroker Tudor.’

The Historic Harbor: People and Places
10 am, Fri. July 4; 11 am Sun. Aug. 31 & Sept. 21. 3-hr tour. Meet at The Hatch, Erie Basin.

Travel through a panorama of waterfront history with Tim Tielman, author of Buffalo’s Waterfront. Discover the people and places of Buffalo’s waterfront, a window into national social, economic, and architectural history. From the newly restored terminus of the Erie Canal, to the soaring grain elevators that are the foundation of Modern Architecture itself, all along the streets once thronged by immigrants, sailors and ruffians, Grover Cleveland, and the “saloon boss” of bosses, Fingy Connors.

Seeking Salvation: Endangered Churches of Buffalo
10 am, Sat. June 28, 11 am Sun. Sept. 28.
3-hr. tour, $25. Meet at Elmwood and Summer. Includes a rest stop.

They are the landmarks of our daily lives, whether we are believers or not: neighborhood churches. With their convents, rectories, schools, and social halls, Buffalo churches pin us to the land. What if they disappeared? We’ll explore the ramifications, and also look at some successful adaptations.

St. Agnes,designed by Max Beierl in the late 19th century is a commanding and well crafted complex that was vacated in 2007 (left). A cultural center of the Lovejoy neighborhood from the very beginning, it typifies the beauty, history, and challenges  communities have.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo
11 am, Sun. July 6 and Sun. Sept. 14. 2-hr tour, $20. Meet at Elmwood Ave. at Bidwell Pkwy.

Buffalo is noted worldwide for its role in the career of Frank Lloyd Wright. See Martin, Barton, Davidson, and Heath houses, as well as two recently built designs for a magnificent boathouse (originally designed for Wisconsin) for the venerable West Side Rowing Club and an open-air mausoleum in Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Grover Cleveland's Buffalo
11 am, Sun. Aug. 3. 2-hr. tour, $20. Meet at @ Bidwell & Elmwood

Grover Cleveland went from being mayor of Buffalo to President of the United States in three years. What were Buffalo and America like in Cleveland’s time in Buffalo (1851-1882). Visit his old haunts as we follow in the traces of this forgotten hero (and learn the origins of the Baby Ruth candy bar).

The Historic Niagara River
11 am, Sun. July 13, and Sun. Aug. 10. 2-hr. tour. $20. Meet at Niagara St. and Porter Ave.

Nearly 200 years ago, the tiny but promising villages of Buffalo and Black Rock, located at the head of upper Great Lakes navigation, but also on the American frontier across the Niagara River from the Canadian dominions of the British Empire, found themselves in the middle of a continental war. Buffalo was burnt to the ground, and Black Rock was the site of numerous skirmishes, fortifications, and naval activity. Join us as we peel back the layers of time and espy the Niagara Frontier as it was seen by Lt. Jesse Elliott, the first naval hero of the war to receive a Congressional medal, for his daring nighttime raid to capture two British warships on the Fort Erie shore.  

From there, we go to 1825 and the completion of the the Erie Canal and the development of Buffalo, including the beautiful and threatened neighborhood of Prospect Hill. You'll also see some beautiful but seldom sought-out vantage points from which to behold the beauty and power of the river itself.

The Architectural and Industrial Heritage of Black Rock and Riverside
11 am, Sun. June 29 and Aug. 24. 2-hr. tour. $20. Meet at Bidwell Parkway & Elmwood Ave.

Black Rock has the largest concentration of 1850’s houses in the city, while Riverside has an industrial legacy that has attracted art historians for decades. Two intriguing neighborhoods, too little known!