GreaterBuffaloBlog

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.

Download 2008_autobus_vertical_revised.jpg

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!

Ride the magical Open-Air Autobus!

Download 2007_openair_tours.pdf

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture has launched its long-awaited open-air tour bus service.

The Campaign received a challenge grant from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation in 2005. Contributions from Campaign members, The Rupp Foundation, and The Baird Foundation met the match.

The bus, dubbed the Open-Air Autobus and painted in 1920’s-style green and cream livery, will be the first open air bus to ever operate in Buffalo. Riders will not only enjoy the ride itself, but will have 360-degree views all around the rolling platform, greatly aiding in the architectectural and historical appreciation that is the focus of the Campaign’s tours.

Tickets for the tours are $20 for the general public, $16 for Campaign for Buffalo members. Reservations are recommended, but walk-ups welcome, space permitting. Info and reservations: 854-3749 or OpenAirBuffalo.org.

Famed Adam Mickiewicz Library, Polish beer, kielbasa, and squirt guns added to annual Churches, Bars & Markets: Polonia at Eastertime tour, Saturday March 26, Noon. Best bonnet to earn a free tour and universal admiration.

Campaign for Greater Buffalo Executive Director Tim Tielman is conducting his annual Easter Eve walking tour of East Side architectural and cultural landmarks, Churches, Bars, and Markets: Polonia at Eastertime, on Saturday March 26 at Noon. The tour, including a Polish beer or beverage, kielbasa, and a squirt gun at the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle (“Mickey’s”) lasts two hours and costs $15 ($12 for Campaign members). The best Easter bonnet worn by a participant (store bought or homemade) will earn the wearer free admission. The tour goes on rain or shine and no reservations are necessary. Meet at Kent and Lombard St., outside Broadway Market. Info: 884-3138

The tour includes the ornate interior of the basilica-form Corpus Christi church, lit by 11,000 lights, and the only somewhat less grand interior of St. Stanislaus church, as well as the bank-vault-turned-historic-photo-display of the Polish American Veterans Association Post #1, and the comfy bar and library of the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Dramatic Circle, a center of Polish secular culture.

First stop is the roof of the Broadway Market for a literal and figurative overview of Polonia, a neighborhood that bloomed between 1880 and 1910 with waves of eastern European — largely Polish — immigrants. They built magnificent churches seemingly on every other block and thousands of tiny cottages, often added on to in a distinctive telescopic fashion.

The tour then visits a giant landmark rescued in the nick of time, Corpus Christi. Energetic community efforts to keep it open in 2003 led to its takeover by an order from Poland, which has doubled church attendance. Then it is past numerous bars and market stalls, all bustling with easter revelers, to the vault of the Polish American Veterans Association, where historical photos are displayed. On to St. Stanislaus Church, the “mother church” of Polonia, with a final stop at the Mickiewicz bar for a beer and kielbasa and an introduction to Dyngus Day, the end of Lent, to be celebrated across Polonia on Monday, March 28. The significance of pussy willows and squirt guns will be on the agenda. Along with the interior stops, historic police stations, firehouses, breweries, and even the remnants of a 1950s McDonalds will be seen.

Allentown East walking tour this Sat., Sept. 4

A lot of interesting things are happening in the old town these days, and this new tour highlights a lot of it. We start on Franklin Street, which has a passel of textbook examples of mid-19th century architectural styles. Second Empire, Stick Style, and Italianate are at every turn. It’s not every day you see a tree like the one in front of 404 Franklin St., either. A natural historic landmark, it is the starting point of our tour.

You’ll also see two new renovations: St. Louis Church and the Beaux Arts Catholic Union Building, plus the recently saved Metzger Building on Main St., and quaint cottages on quiet streets.

Sept. 4 Sat. 9:30am
Allentown East walking tour
2-hr walk, $8 general public/$6 Campaign members. Meet under big tree at 404 Franklin St. betw. Edward and Virginia, rain or shine
Call 884-3138 for more info.

Soldiers Circle & The Parkways tour cancelled

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo regrets to announce that it will ahve to cancel its Soldiers' Circle tours scheduled for 6pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sept 3-5. It needs all hands available for its Architectural Revival. For more information, call Tim Tielman at 884-4831.

Central Park (the Buffalo neighborhood, not the NYC park!) tour

9:30am Sat. Sept 18. 2-hour walk, $8/$6. Meet in front of Bennett High, Main near Hertel.
At the turn of the last century, upwardly mobile Buffalonians looked north of Delaware Park to build houses. They alighted in a real estate swath named Central Park, designed by cement magnate and visionary Lewis Bennett
Bennett shepherded this enclave into one of the city’s finest neighborhoods. So impressive and archetypical are the houses that one national guide to architecture cites many of them.
People living in Central Park today are lucky: After these houses were built, the Depression and high labor and material costs ended an era of domestic opulence.