Buffalo Architecture: A Guide [Paperback]

Reyner Banham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 1981

Buffalo's rich architectural and planning heritage has attracted the attention of several prominent historians, whose work here is accompanied by over 250 illustrations and photographs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (October 19, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026252063X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262520638
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #438,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buffalos Rich Architectural Heritage and more..., December 16, 1999

By 

LA Goo Fan (Los Angeles,CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buffalo Architecture: A Guide (Paperback)

This book acts in many ways as the unofficial guidebook to exploring what is one of the most important architectural cities in America.For those who are familiar with Buffalo and those who are not the book is filled with a splendid variety of both well known Richardson and Wright masterpieces and some not so well known masterpieces. Its divided into sections based on the geography of the city so it makes the perfect book if one wants to set out exploring. Buffalos neighborhoods and amazing housing stock are unparalleled in size and preservation nationwide. Its American Indian inspired art deco city hall, perhaps the finest building of its type in the nation is just one of buildings you will find profiled. Reyner Banham ,the editor,was at the time was on the faculty at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Architecture. His wonderful book about the origins of the modern movement and its ties to Buffalos grain elevators, A Concrete Atlantis could act as a supplement to Buffalo Architecture: A Guide if you are interested in Buffalos industrial buildings as well...

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must see book for achitects and students and Americans., September 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Buffalo Architecture: A Guide (Paperback)

This book and the city it shows us are a must see for architects, students, and architectural buffs alike. The book is packed with wonderfull black and white photos showing a suprising array of high quality though little known American architecture. It is refreshing and informative to see and learn of architecture which has been passed over by the traditional architectural press solely because it is not in the typical bigger cities. The buildings presented form a rich and diverse portfolio ranging from masterpieces by Sullivan, Wright, and Richardson,to the simplest of victorian cottages, to a magnificent cathedral or a delicate greek revival temple. This book presents the unknown and forgotten richness of American architecture and releases the reader form the monotony of seeing the same cities and the same buildings published over and over agian. The writers of this book ventured out into the great american wilderness and and showed us its refinement.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but Buffalo deserves much better, October 4, 2011

By 

Jon L. Albee "Faulkner Wannabe" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Buffalo Architecture: A Guide (Paperback)

Reading all the rave reviews on this page made this an easy purchase, but I was disappointed with what arrived.

This thin, outdated catalog is not the kind of quality you would expect for the architectural treasure trove that is Buffalo. Buffalo's architecture belies its reputation as a desperately poor, crime-ridden, ugly city. In fact, one can argue (as I do) that it contains the most important ensemble of 19th-century urban architecture in the United States, and among the best in the world. Buffalo deserves a better book.

What you get here is a catalog of landmark structures, chosen and published in 1981. The book is standard AIA format, though it is not an AIA publication. Some of the 200 structures come with a brief descriptive essay, some come with a short descriptive sentence, and a few include no description at all, other than a title and address. The catalog itself is woefully incomplete. All the sites are in downtown, north or west sides. The important EAST SIDE and Ellicott are (nearly) entirely absent, and essentially dismissed as "troubled areas." That's too bad. People who know Buffalo know what kind of treasures are hiding in these "troubled areas," and they are urgently important to the architectural and cultural history of the city. For example, two conspicuous omissions are St. Mary of Sorrows Roman Catholic Church (a National Historic Landmark) and Canisius College.

The photography is also incomplete, with only about half of the entries including one. If there is a photograph, it is of purely pragmatic, stock purposes. There's no attempt at artistic quality, but there are a few interesting interior shots.

So, while it's nice to have SOMETHING which represents awesome Buffalo, we need a serious expansion and update of current offerings, particularly with the National Trust for Historic Preservation coming to town in October 2011!