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New comedic production inspired by odd Hydraulics shrine receives rave reviews!
Tom Dudzick's new Buffalo-inspired comedic production, "Our Lady of South Division Street," has received rave reviews since its June 15 world debut at the Penguin Repertory Theatre in Stony Point, New...
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A new U: Larkin U Building to be renewed!
The historic Larkin U Building, 237 Van Rensselaer Street, has been acquired by Larkin Development Group. The former manufacturing building, which most recently housed the now defunct Par Foam...
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Larkin executive Elbert Hubbard speaks on "the Hydraulics"
This just in! Elbert Hubbard, the former Larkin Soap Mfg. Co. executive and influential poet and philosopher of the Arts & Crafts Movement, published a little-known 1914 pamphlet on Buffalo, titled...
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Uncle Sam's: North America's largest Army Navy outfitter occupies the Hydraulics
Gearing up for MASH Bash, Buffalo's beer-soaked, military-themed, American Red Cross charity event this Friday? Be sure to gear up at Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outfitters, the veritable department store of...
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Construction activity heats up at Larkin Square
The former Larkin Filling Station #6 at 725 Seneca, purchased by Larkin Development Group in May, is now a construction site. The Art Deco filling station is adjacent to what was identified by Larkin...
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Paper box factory or the Temple of Aphaea?
"When an architect does achieve something worthwhile with the simplest materials and under the most strictly utilitarian limitations, it is a greater monument to his skill, perhaps, than the...
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Yes, I'm writing a book...
So, dear reader, this blog tells the story of the Hydraulics, Buffalo's earliest manufacturing district. The blog, however, has a background objective: I'm writing a book. The book is a comprehensive...
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Larkin Square preliminary plans revealed
On the heels of a major announcement last week by First Niagara Financial Group to relocate its corporate headquarters from Lockport, NY, to the Larkin Terminal Warehouse, plans are now being discussed...
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Zemsky testifies before Congress: Highlights success of Larkin redevelopment...
Howard Zemsky, principal in Larkin Development Group, testified before Congress yesterday, bringing the success story of the Larkin Terminal Warehouse conversion to a national stage. The 10-story...
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Artvoice stumbles into the Swan!
Nothing says "the edges of industrial Buffalo" like the Swan Lounge! The historic tavern at 716 Swan (yes, its address is Buffalo's area code!) is a throwback to the hard-drinking, hardscrabble halcyon...
View ArticlePBS documentary on Elbert Hubbard to air tonight!
The highly anticipated, nationally televised documentary, "Elbert Hubbard: An American Original," airs tonight, November 23rd at 10 pm, on PBS. Check out the full trailer at You Tube. Elbert Hubbard,...
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Mayor Brown announces ambitious public-private partnership to upgrade Larkin...
Today the Larkin Development Group, First Niagara Financial Group, and Mayor Byron Brown unveiled an ambitious neighborhood improvement program in the Hydraulics centered on a proposed Larkin Square at...
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Registered! Kamman Building, Hydraulics history set for national spotlight
The history of the Hydraulics, Buffalo's earliest manufacturing district, is about to get some national attention. Yesterday the New York State Historic Preservation Office recommended two...
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A new year, a new face for the Hydraulics blog!
2010 is finally here. So, too, is the new, rebranded Hydraulics blog! Welcome to the Hydraulics Press! The Hydraulics Press, unveiled today, represents the evolution of this blog as a medium for news...
View ArticleA decade in review: First Niagara moves to Larkin District
First Niagara Financial Group, the regional banking giant, announces the move of its corporate headquarters from Lockport, New York, to Buffalo's Larkin Terminal Warehouse at 726 Exchange, cementing...
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A decade in review: Keystone warehouses sent to landfill
The circa 1912 warehouses of the Keystone Warehouse Co., designed by engineering firm Colson & Hudson and listed on the Historic American Engineering Record, are demolished by the City of Buffalo...
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A decade in review: Jacobs brings new life to Exchange Street
Developer Chris Jacobs becomes a pioneer in urban redevelopment of the Hydraulics in 2001 with the purchase of the former Buffalo Lounge Co. warehouse at 567 Exchange. As Jacobs converts the upper...
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A decade in review: Larkin fence pier restored
In 2003 a half-dozen civic activists at the Larkin Collectors Group secure and restore a deteriorated fence pier that represents the sole remnant of Frank Lloyd Wright's Larkin Administration Building,...
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A decade in review: New Era Cap closes Buffalo factory, moves headquarters...
New Era Cap Co., one of the world's leading manufacturers of baseball caps, phases out its Buffalo factory at 540 Seneca in 2004, citing the plant's excess production capacity and outmoded layout....
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A decade in review: Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo brought to national audience
PBS releases its new documentary, Frank Lloyd Wright's Buffalo, in 2006, bringing a fresh national spotlight to Wright and the work commissioned by his patrons at the Larkin Company. Produced by WNED...
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A decade in review: Larkin Terminal Warehouse is reborn
In 2002 investment partners Howard Zemsky, Joe Petrella, Bill Smith, and Doug Swift purchase the idled, 600,000 sq. ft. Larkin Terminal Warehouse from Graphic Controls for $1 million. Plans to...
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Zemsky expounds on the future of Buffalo
Howard Zemsky, the principal in Larkin Development Group responsible for the transformation of the Larkin Terminal Warehouse as modern office space, expounded on the future of Buffalo at a forum...
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Hydraulics was terminus of first rail link from Buffalo to the Hudson
The Hydraulics was the site of a small depot where the first rail line running from Buffalo to Albany was opened for business on January 8, 1843. The completion of the Attica & Buffalo Railroad,...
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St. Patrick's: Hydraulics landmark removed in 1982
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church, the Hydraulics landmark that once stood at the corner of Emslie and Seymour streets, was demolished in 1982 by the Diocese of Buffalo. The erasure of the...
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Not to be missed: Historical society lecture on America's first female architect
The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society (BECHS) is hosting a must-see lecture on the life and times of Louise Blanchard Bethune, America's first professional woman architect, on Wednesday,...
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Bruce Jackson: The lost bridges of the Hydraulics
Bruce Jackson, the American folklorist, documentary photographer and filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor at SUNY-Buffalo, offers up an amazing series on the lost bridges of the Hydraulics. In 1997...
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Big news: Savarino buys historic F.N. Burt plant
This just in! 500 Seneca Street LLC, an investment group headed by prominent local developer Sam Savarino, has reportedly purchased the vacant F.N. Burt Co. factory complex with plans for conversion to...
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Buffalo Green Code announced by Mayor Byron Brown in Larkin District
With the Larkin District as symbolic backdrop, Mayor Bryon Brown today (Earth Day) announced his plan to completely rewrite the City's antiquated zoning code. The initiative, dubbed the Buffalo Green...
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Young + Wright Architectural to move to Schaefer Building
The ongoing revitalization of the Hydraulics moved another step forward today with the announcement that Young + Wright Architectural, the 21-member architecture firm now located at the Larkin Terminal...
View ArticleFirst Niagara installs sign at Larkin Terminal Warehouse
First Niagara Financial Group completed the erection of its skyline corporate sign at the peak of Larkin Terminal Warehouse today. It will be lit for the first time tonight. Check out WKBW's report...
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Sign of the times: First Niagara after dusk
The new First Niagara skyline corporate sign was lit for the first time Monday night after being lifted into place atop the Larkin Terminal Warehouse by cranes in three sections. First Niagara's...
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Esmonde spotlights Larkin District revitalization
Donn Esmonde of the Buffalo News today put a "spotlight" on revitalization efforts underway at the Larkin District. Led by Larkin Development Group, the plans will in 2010 see visible progress on a...
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Road work ahead: Larkin District Streetscape Project now underway
The Larkin District Streetscape Project started construction today. As concrete cutters sliced a path through Van Rensselaer Street, setting the stage for expansion of sidewalks on the east side of the...
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Larkin U restoration moves forward, reveals surprises
The restoration of the historic Larkin U Building is quietly moving forward. The building, constructed in 1893 at 237 Van Rensselaer for industrial scrap recycler D. Ullman Sons, has been a...
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Shipping container architecture in Larkinland?
A decommissioned shipping container was dropped off in the Hydraulics earlier this week for Larkin Development Group. The architectural oddity, now parked in the rear of the Larkin U Building, will...
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Uncle Sam's limousine a Larkin Street landmark
A character-besotted 1950 Chrysler Crown Imperial is parked out front of Uncle Sam's Army Navy Outfitters at 290 Larkin Street. The limousine is earning its place as a conspicuous contributor to the...
View ArticleCaught on film: the revitalization of the Larkin District
The ongoing redevelopment of the Larkin District and the Hydraulics was the subject of a Buffalo News feature video (6/9/2010) by columnist Donn Esmonde featuring Larkin Development Group principal...
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Larkin factory complex may get overhaul
The factory complex of the Larkin Co. will see a dramatic overhaul over the next five years if a plan being advanced by Seneca Exchange Larkin Partners, an investment group, is hatched. The group is...
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Howard Stanger: The decline of the Larkin Co.
Howard Rick Stanger, PhD, Professor of Organizational Studies at Canisius College, is likely the leading scholar on the history of the Larkin Co., the prodigious mail order business that rivaled Sears...
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Sneak peek: Progress at the Schaefer Building
The restoration of the Schaefer Building, 740 Seneca Street, is racing toward completion. The project, headed up by Larkin Development Group, is set to be occupied by Young + Wright Architectural as...
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First Niagara Financial Group: Top 25?
First Niagara Financial Group, headquartered in Buffalo's Larkin Terminal Warehouse, announced today the $1.5 billion acquisition of Connecticut's NewAlliance Bancshares Inc. The merger, reportedly the...
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Murals from St. Patrick's emerge
A series of murals salvaged from the shuttered St. Patrick's Church before its 1982 demolition have been discovered in a basement. The life-sized murals, painted by Marco Silvestri & Son and...
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Young + Wright cuts the ribbon!
The Schaefer is complete! Young + Wright Architectural officially opened its doors today at the Schaefer Building, the repurposed former grocery and bank building at Seneca and Emslie streets. Young +...
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Beyond/In WNY: Reitzenstein sculpture energizes Seneca/Smith intersection
Beyond/In Western New York 2010 is here! Sure, the tight rope walker may have taken the spotlight in the regional art exhibition's kick-off yesterday; meanwhile, in the Hydraulics, an electrifying...
View ArticleLarkin District Streetscape Project - DONE
Yet another milestone in the redevelopment of the Hydraulics and Larkin District - the completion of a sweeping, $2 million overhaul of the street infrastructure of the neighborhood - was marked today...
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Larkin Development Group announces über cool office development
The Larkin Development Group announced today it is moving forward on its next big project. An $8.6 million mixed-use redevelopment of 111 Hydraulic St., a former brownfield, is set to kick off this May...
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Larkin District neighborhood workshop set for March 2
The City of Buffalo announced today it is organizing a series of neighborhood workshops to help assemble the first detailed, citywide land use plan since 1977, the year of the infamous "Blizzard of...
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The next residential option in the Hydraulics?
The Larkin Development Group announced today the purchase and planned rehabilitation of the former Larkin Men's Club at 696 Seneca St. The former social club, and prior to 1915 the rectory of the...
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Larkin Development Group unveils bike share program
Lark 'N Ride is on wheels! The Larkin Development Group unveiled Buffalo's first ever employer-based bicycle sharing program today. Six vintage Republic Bikes are now available for use during business...
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June 22: Developing the Larkin District to be topic
Mark your calendars! This coming June 22, the Canisius College Wehle School of Business and the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society present an evening program titled "Developing the Larkin...
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