At 771 Busti on Buffalo’s far West Side sits the next in our series highlighting some of the most important and endangered buildings in Buffalo. It is one of Buffalo’s most historic houses and it may not be long for this world. Built in 1863 (that is Civil War era in case you had not noticed) by Charles Storms, the house is mostly known for its later resident Colonel Samuel Wilkeson who moved into the house in 1885 (already an old house at 22 years). He was grandson of one of the important early founders of Buffalo. That would be Wilkeson as in THE Wilkeson who secured the Erie Canal terminus for Buffalo. The younger Wilkeson was distinguished in his own right having been a bonafide Civil War hero who fought at Harpers Ferry, and Gettysburg. He is credited with being greatly influential in Lee’s defeat at Gettysburg.
The house is typical of Buffalo style Italianate architecture of its time period. It has been much maligned wih bad updates and neglect over its nearly 150 years. It is currently owned by the Peace Bridge Authority (PBA) and reports are that they plan on demolishing the building and its row of historic neighbors to expand the customs inspection plaza. Allegedly even the now planned smaller plaza dooms this house and its block to be asphalted over. The PBA has owned the building for over a decade. They state that it was in extremely poor condition when they purchased it for the purpose of plaza expansion. They commissioned a report on the structure which showed that it was not architecturally distinctive and that it was structurally unstable and could not be saved and was not an important building.
Buffalo Spree highlighted the house in an October preservation story. In that story they misquoted me a bit when they said I “rejected the engineer’s” report. Since I am not an engineer nor have I seen the full report nor have I been inside the building I cannot definitively reject its findings. What I can say is that reports of this type are commonly trotted out as proof that demolition is the only option for long neglected historic buildings. After witnessing the incredible restoration of the Webb Building and a few other ‘too far gone’ buildings in Buffalo we need to look on these kinds of studies with skepticism when deciding if we should remove a historic artifact which can never be brought back – ever. As well, this building may not be distinctive architecturally in the way a major master piece is (then again we have tried to remove those as well). But it is a very important piece of the architectural continuity and historic fabric of the city. How many ordinary teeth can you pull out of your mouth before the critical mass is gone. The concept that cities should be parking lots, green space, and the occasional landmark historic building is a dead end way of thinking. This building must be saved.
Here is the Buffalo Preservation Board landmark application form filed in 2009. At the time Buffalo Rising noted that the Buffalo Common Council voted 9 to 0 to grant the building landmark status.
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