This October Buffalo, New York will offer a preview of the plans to restore the Richardson Olmstead Complex, a signature work of architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead.
After decades of disrepair, a rehabbed portion of the mammoth Medina sandstone and brick facility, now known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex, will temporarily open for the National Preservation Conference in October, providing a glimpse into its future.
The plan is to turn the tower building and two buildings flanking it, equaling close to one-third of the complex, into a boutique hotel and conference center, architecture center and possible Visit Buffalo Niagara satellite location. Construction is planned to begin by 2013, with the hotel and other entities opening in 2014.
Visitors entering the iconic patina-capped tower building, last occupied in the early 1990s, will see repaired and replaced plaster walls, now painted taupe and salmon; repaired 16-foot-tall ceilings and ornamental crown moldings; and refurbished maple floors, interior woodwork and grand staircase. The area covers two hallways, an entryway, three rooms and a curved connector — about half the first floor.
“It looks great. I never thought it would be looking that good in my lifetime,” said Frank Kowsky, a Richardson scholar and retired Buffalo State College art history professor who toured the building recently. “It’s only limited to the ground floor and the staircase, but it’s quite something.”
The 11 building complex is the first example of Richardson Romanesque, his signature style and one that shows up as hints in the work of Louis Sullivan.
Further construction is expected to begin in 2013 and completion is planned for 2014.
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