Explore Buffalo Architecture Tour
Updated: 4/6/2018
Charge your phones, people
“What was apparent from the beginning was that this tour would cover more than ordinary descriptions of the giants around us. Here we would hear their histories, understand their struggles, and get to know them personally.”
Passing by old buildings in a hurry on the way to somewhere else does not a tour of Buffalo make. Carve out a couple hours, cough up the $15 and get to know the city with Explore Buffalo’s Masters of American Architecture Tour. Here’s a sneak peek:
1.) The Dun Building – Buffalo’s first skyscraper, 1894.
2.) St. Joseph’s Cathedral – Designed by Patrick Keeley, ground broke on the project in 1851.
3.) First Unitarian Church/Title Guarantee Building – The oldest building foundation downtown and has survived its own tortured history.
4.) Old County Hall – Designed by Andrew Jackson Warner and completed in 1876.
5.) Guaranty Building – Though seemingly plain from afar, the Guaranty’s terracotta detail is striking up close.
6.) St. Paul’s Cathedral (interior) – Richard Upjohn’s gothic cathedral, consecrated in 1851, is home to Buffalo’s only flying buttress.
7.) Ellicott Square Building – The Ellicott Square Building is a beautiful example of Italian Renaissance Revival design.
8.) Ellicott Square (entry) – The entryways to the Ellicott Square Building are identical on both sides, except for the Roman god Mercury missing its head on the bottom right.
The Old Post Office on Explore Buffalo Architecture Tour / Photo by Jason Hugar
9.) The Old Post Office – It took three architects to design the Old Post Office. President William McKinley had the honor of receiving its first letter in 1901.
10.) The Old Post Office (exterior) – Two buffalo heads salutes Old Glory outside the Old Post Office. The building now serves as ECC’s City Campus.
