August 14th, 2008
Buffalo Historic Structures Report
On Tuesday there was a public meeting concerning efforts to preserve the Buffalo State Hospital Kirkbride. At the meeting, the Richardson Center Corporation revealed their Historic Structures Report (available for download on their documents page). The report is a beautifully comprehensive collection of history and images of the hospital buildings, and you should definitely check it out.
I haven’t digested the whole report yet, but the part I find most interesting so far is the description of the hospital’s construction, development and eventual downsizing which begins on page 62. Included are maps of the hospital campus during different time periods, as well as photos of the buildings from over the years. Especially striking is an old photo from about 1880 of the unfinished Kirkbride (page 70).
Just to make things a little more interesting, I thought I’d also point out an online discussion about the preservation efforts: Plans for H. H. Richardson Complex. I haven’t seen a lot of anti-preservation sentiment concerning this Kirkbride, but it’s obviously out there.
I’m working my way through the report. Buffalo is one of the Kirkbrides I know the least about, but is becoming one of my favorite ones!
FYI, the webpage in the link also has a great photo gallery of the hospital.
Amazing! It took me a good 40 minutes just to scroll through the report without really stopping to read for more than a few seconds at a time. It is really great to see so much effort being put into this building. If only the same could be said for all the others. I sure hope that someone puts this kind of effort into Greystone.