Painting for Preservation is having an ‘art-in’ at the downtown Trico Building this Saturday, June 1, from 9:30 am until 12:30 pm. Painting for Preservation (Facebook page) is a uniquely Buffalo art initiative that seeks to create a community of artists vested in the preservation of our urban landscape. Started in 2011 by artist Sara M. Zak, Painting for Preservation invites artists of all levels and community members to create art at historic buildings in any media (ie. paint, photography, paper, collage, cloth, video, etc.). Artists of all skill level and media are welcome as are any interested observers and community members.
By gathering at neglected and forgotten historic places, the artists focus needed on attention on the possibilities of the building and its’ place in the fabric of the community. The events and artwork create an artistic record of the building’s current condition with the hope of stirring additional conversation about rehabilitation opportunities.
This site is rich with Buffalo history and is a designated landmark on the National Register, however local preservationists are working hard to secure local landmark status to help ensure it is redeveloped and stays a part of our city’s urban fabric. The oldest building within the complex, originally the Christian Weyland Brewery ice house, was built in 1890. The façade of this building is still visible along Ellicott Street. (see Facebook event page for more information)
Two weeks ago, Painting for Preservation artists, neighborhood residents, and others young and old held a paint-in at 36 E. Utica Street where three stunning brick Queene Anne-style buildings are holding on for dear life. The properties are just steps from the Utica light rail station and two blocks from Linwood Avenue. They are owned by Rahima Kabir who purchased them in December 2011 at the City’s tax auction for $4,000.
Art-in organizers coordinated with the Utica Heights Block Club which held their neighborhood clean-up that same morning. The two events in tandem were seen as a way to bring attention to the area and improve the community.
More on the vacant buildings from artist, preservation activist, and historian Dana Saylor-Furman’s article in the March issue of Buffalo Spree:
Three proud Queen Anne-style brick townhouses sit on a rise. Built around 1880, and later owned by English immigrant Charles Berrick (a prominent builder of the Round House for the Lake Shore Railroad, the original Buffalo Library, and Barnes & Hengerer’s store), each is now painted in a different color scheme. They boast elegant towers, ornamental brickwork at the cornices and between floors, and bay windows. In 1885, tenants like Reverend L. E. Rockwell of the Glenwood Methodist-Episcopal Church walked out his front door and up the street to catch the train to the Genesee Conference of Methodist Episcopals in Lima, New York. And the Dau Blue Books of the early 1900s list other notable residents, such as Charles Dudley Arnold, official photographer for the 1893 World’s Columbian Fair and the Pan-Am Exposition. But this isn’t Delaware Avenue, Linwood, or Ashland; it’s 36-50 East Utica Street.
In this city, recognizing potential doesn’t require much imagination. All that is required is a quick survey of scores of successful adaptive reuse projects, both residential and commercial, to see the incredible resources we have in architecture and community. Just a block away from 36-50 East Utica is the mostly preserved Linwood Avenue, which boasts a strong neighborhood association and is held up as an example of classic Buffalo. Eight blocks farther is Elmwood Village, named one of the “Ten Best Neighborhoods in America” by the American Planning Association. Yet on East Utica, these properties sit empty because their private owner apparently ran out of money to work on them. And without boarded windows or enough eyes to keep watch, vacant homes can become problems.
At least one neighbor says she’s hoping the city will force a demolition, because a sensitive renovation seems unlikely. In a city with thousands of vacant houses, this is often the reality, but for a relatively stable area now consolidated under the newly-formed “Utica Heights Block Club,” within sight of a light rail stop and near a good deal of recent reinvestment, there are reasons to expect better.