Every Woman Her Own Architect: Author Talk with Kelly Hayes McAlonie

As America's first professional female architect, Louise Blanchard Bethune broke barriers in a male-dominated profession that was emerging as a vital force in a rapidly growing nation during the Gilded Age. Yet, Bethune herself is an enigma. Due to scant information about her life and her firm, Bethune, Bethune & Fuchs, scholars have struggled to provide a complete picture of this trailblazer. Using a newly discovered archival source of photographs, architectural drawings, and personal documents, Kelly Hayes McAlonie paints a picture of Bethune never before seen. A comprehensive biography of the first professional woman architect in the United States, who was also the first woman to be admitted to the American Institute of Architects, Louis Blanchard Bethune: Every Woman Her Own Architect serves as an important addition to New York and architectural history.

Preservation Book ClubKaty PeaceJune 13, 2024women's history, Buffalo

Excellence Award Spotlight: Nash Lofts

Let’s take a look at the anatomy of an Excellence Award-winning project. The Nash Lofts in Buffalo was treated as a single rehabilitation project, but the building is actually comprised of 4 separate structures that were cobbled together over the years. Years of vacancy and damage made this a difficult project — the complicated nature of the building made it even more so. The team who decided to tackle the project did a remarkable job bringing this anchor property back to active use.

Excellence AwardsKaty PeaceNovember 29, 2023Buffalo, 2023 Excellence Awards, adaptive reuse

Demolition of the Great Northern Grain Elevator: A Legal Perspective

This guest blog post from Jeff Iovannone provides an analysis of the demolition of the Great Northern Grain Elevator in Buffalo from a legal perspective. This piece was originally written for his Historic Preservation Law course at Cornell University.

Voices of PreservationJeff IovannoneDecember 12, 2022Buffalo

Behind-the-Scenes with the League in Buffalo

On an unseasonably warm and beautiful November day in Buffalo, League staff enjoyed a full schedule of behind-the-scenes tours, visits with colleagues and grantees, and a chance to see current and future success stories throughout the city. As packed as our schedule was, we also added many other sites to our wish list for another Buffalo tour in 2023!

PLNYS in the Community, PLNYS Site VisitsKatie Eggers ComeauNovember 15, 2022Buffalo

A Building Investigation of Buffalo's Paramount Lodge

Since including Opera Houses on the 2018-19 Seven to Save list, the League has worked to document and develop strategies for the preservation of this important building type. We define the term “opera house” fairly broadly to include buildings that historically provided commercial and/or civic space on the first floor with a multi-use performance / meeting space in the upper stories. This summer, our colleagues at Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) and BAC/Architecture + Planning, PLLC completed a Building Investigation on one such building: Paramount Lodge No. 73. The League was able to provide funding for this report thanks to a generous grant from the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, which previously funded a statewide study identifying and documenting extant opera houses.

Preservation in ActionKatie Eggers ComeauOctober 5, 2022Opera Houses, Buffalo, BIPOC

The Little Brothel That Could: The Story of 72 Sycamore Street and Eliza Quirk

This guest blog post from Preservation Buffalo Niagara’s Preservation Planner Tabitha O’Connell shines a light on the Eliza Quirk House. PBN is working to restore the historic 1847 rowhouse in downtown Buffalo. In 2020, the League awarded PBN a Technical Assistance Grant to fund a Specialized Conservation Study focused on the building’s exterior brick, and they recently received a $500,000 Environmental Protection Fund grant from NYS to support the necessary rehabilitation work. PBN was also one of the League’s 2021 Excellence in Historic Preservation Award winners and we are excited to share this update from them about “the little brothel that could.”

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Celebrating 50 years // 1974-2024