Reuse of Buffalos Grain Elevators; AKA Silo City (New York, Niagara Falls: fit in, 2015)
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These have already been used for more than one 'backdrop' anywhere from a movie to local suburban truck dealers. (Nice of them to use parts of the city when their dealerships aren't located here. All the benefits, but none of the responsibilities.)
Quote:
Backers want historic grain elevators turned into national park
By Mark Sommer Mon, May 15, 2017
Buffalo's canyon of grain elevators is colossal. They are seemingly impenetrable. And there are a lot of them. In their heyday, the silos stored millions of bushels of grain inside more than 30 grain elevators. Today, 15 still remain, though just a handful are used. Now, an idea – and it's just that at the moment – is being floated to turn the cluster of six grain elevators known as Silo City into a national park. It would celebrate the cultural and economic importance of these concrete behemoths, and their invention in Buffalo in 1842 by Joseph Dart and Joseph Dunbar. The area – also known as "Elevator Alley" – constitutes the densest collection of concrete grain elevators in the world.
"If you want to see great silos, this is one of the few places in the whole world to see them," said Adam Sokol, an architect with offices in Allentown and Los Angeles. He came up with the idea and has drawn conceptual site plans for "Buffalo Grain Elevator National Park." "The grain elevators in Buffalo are one of a handful of iconic historic resources that are emblematic of the city, are very visible and close to downtown," Sokol said. "They are also an important part of the cultural history of this country."
Rep. Brian Higgins, D-Buffalo, likes the thought of turning Silo City into a national park. "It's an exciting idea that should be pursued," Higgins said. "If there are benefits to advancing the celebration of Buffalo's industrial heritage through the creative reuse of the grain elevators, let's do it. "I think the time has come to take this untapped cultural asset to the whole next level," Higgins said.
Sokol points to Lowell, Mass., where some of the nation's first factories were turned into a national park. Visitors, including schoolchildren, see museum installations and interpretive exhibits that explain the importance of the factories in local and national history. The Mill City Museum in Minneapolis, while operated locally, is another good example, he said. The museum was built in the ruins of what once was the world's largest flour mill on the Mississippi River waterfront. "There's no reason something like these can’t happen with the Buffalo grain elevators," Sokol said.
Rick Smith, who owns three of the six grain elevators considered part of Silo City, thinks creating a national park there could be ideal. "I think we're doing a good job being stewards of it now, but they're a community asset, and it's important to get our National Park Service engaged in managing sites of importance," Smith said. Smith has spoken with Higgins and said it may be a good time to reach out to additional elected representatives, as well.
Smith said people are often unaware of how important grain was in Buffalo's evolution. "A lot of people think Buffalo is a steel city," Smith said. "But Buffalo had the world's largest grain port, and the grain business gave Buffalo most of its wealth. The steel was owned by out-of-town guys since Day One." Buffalo produced 29 million sacks of flour a year as late as 1963, more than the next two leading centers combined, he said.
Silo City in the past several years has become a summertime destination for cultural events. Torn Space Theatre does annual large-scale theatrical performances there. Art installations, music and poetry readings also occur inside the silos. Students from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning go there to do research. A television travel show compared the grain elevators at Silo City to the pyramids, and the British Broadcasting Company reported on them. Janeane Garofalo fell to her death at Silo City in "The American Side," a movie filmed there in 2013.
Sokol sees a national park complementing what's occurring along nearby streets. Ohio Street, once a desolate industrial road, has seen two new waterfront apartment buildings, park and rowing club enhancements and a new streetscape in the past few years. Ganson Street is now home to Buffalo RiverWorks, a new destination for ice events, entertainment and socializing.
"A national park there works in terms of tourism, in terms of drawing people going to Niagara Falls and in terms of attracting people across the border," Sokol said. "There’s also an opportunity to stimulate further commercial development of the surrounding area." Sokol imagines commercial zones, potential pedestrian and vehicular bridges and site improvements for walking and passive recreation.
A national park, Sokol said, could also help activate the stretch of the river from Canalside to Silo City, with waterfront cafes, boating and skating in the winter. As a national park, money could be spent to stabilize the massive structures, including sealing them from water and adding fire safety measures. There are National Park Service sites in upstate and Western New York, including the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site in Buffalo and the Women's Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls.
Silo City, however, is considerably larger than those. "What exists now is measured in square feet rather than acres," Sokol said. "But the grain elevators are absolutely unique and worthy of preservation, and I do think there is a fit as a national park." Turning the site into a tourist attraction would also add to the new uses being found for Buffalo's grain elevators.
In 2015 – 100 years after it was built – the Connecting Terminal on the Outer Harbor became the canvas for a nightly industrial light show. And in a matter of weeks, the former GLF grain silo, at RiverWorks, is expected to find new life as a brewery.
Historic Elk Street grain elevator to get new lease on life as offices
While not along the Buffalo River, this 'elevator' can have potential. It's located in "The Valley".
From the Buffalo News;
Quote:
By Jonathan D. Epstein Wed, Mar 1, 2017
A historic grain elevator in the city’s Valley neighborhood, just south of Larkinville and the Niagara Thruway, is getting a new lease on life, thanks to an architectural firm. The city Planning Board on Monday approved a $1.8 million proposal by Young + Wright Architectural to convert the former Kreiner Malting Grain Elevator at 50 Elk St. into its new offices. The building, later used as a grain facility for Buffalo Malt Group, has been vacant since that company left in 1986. Over the years it has been defaced with graffiti and similar vandalism.
But the 13-year-old firm plans to renovate 19,055 square feet of space within the existing structure, restore or add windows, and create a new mixed-use building. Young + Wright, which has outgrown its current location in the Larkin District, would occupy the entire second floor of the boomerang-shaped structure, moving its 50 employees from the Schaefer Building at 740 Seneca St. It would also lease out the first-floor commercial space, perhaps for retail or light industrial use.
“For the first floor, we’re starting to talk to possible tenants, looking for different possibilities that might fit into that neighborhood,” said firm partner Shawn Wright. The remaining interior areas would be stabilized for later redevelopment. On the outside, renovations would include brick repair and repointing, repainting the concrete silos, new roofs, the addition of canopies and new entrances and the reinstallation of windows that have been blocked in for more than 30 years.
“We intend to paint every square inch of the concrete,” architect Paul Kinney said. The historic renovation project, which will involve federal and state tax credits, also includes 48 off-street parking spaces, green space, landscaping, sidewalks and exterior lighting on the 1.9-acre site, located at the corner of Elk and Fulton streets. Officials hope to begin construction in the spring and finish by January 2018.
The fixer upper people are rehabbing some silos in Waco, TX for their retail store. We went there, and parts of it were nice, but some looked like a dumpy grain silo.
I think grain silos are an eyesore and should be demolished.
I have no idea why people have such a hard time giving up anything old.
Wrapping the silos in Labatt Blue ads was a pretty good idea, but not permanently. Riverworks is a good start, but it needs work. The gravel parking lot needs to be paved. Good choice of beers, was not impressed by any of the food however.
The fixer upper people are rehabbing some silos in Waco, TX for their retail store. We went there, and parts of it were nice, but some looked like a dumpy grain silo.
I think grain silos are an eyesore and should be demolished.
I have no idea why people have such a hard time giving up anything old.
Wrapping the silos in Labatt Blue ads was a pretty good idea, but not permanently. Riverworks is a good start, but it needs work. The gravel parking lot needs to be paved. Good choice of beers, was not impressed by any of the food however.
Because you can't duplicate history, you can't remake what took decades, centuries to make. What do you want - another leveled site with a few bricks scattered on flat concrete and weeds? That'd be nice. Then you can build a parking lot, a mall, or something else generic, boring, soulless and pointless. That'd make Buffalo different, right?
As a visitor from NYC - the most interesting thing about Buffalo is its architecture - and this industrial architecture is important. Those structures are amazing.
The question should be, why so many old structures that weren't in disrepair and would of had reuse-ability were torn down.
"Something old" is our heritage. Obviously not yours. New isn't always better, in fact it usually isn't. This isn't Texass.
The Great Northern is the most imposing and impressive in my opinion.
Interestingly I've read how the Chinese, in theor great recent drive to push to the front of world economies, are now regretting demolishing and razing so much of their history and culture in the rush to get something clean and new and shiny. Irreplaceable cultural and historical heritage gone forever for something bland whose shine wears off in 5 yrs.
These were huge walking beams with a clamshell-type bucket on one side (and a small cabin above for the operator, who must have gotten quite a ride -- theme park operators might take note ) and a counterweight on the other. They probably reached their greatest numbers in the post-WW II heavy-industry boom, but were down to a handful of locations by the late Seventies. Two were to be preserved at the former Pennsylvania Railroad Whiskey Island pier in Cleveland, but were dismantled due to maintenance costs. The machinery is stored intact, so an exhibit can be re-installed if anyone ever comes up with a practical plan.
In Ashtabula, I had a opportunity some time back to sit in one of those Hulett's where the operator sat. Talk about scary. I hate to be there in any bad weather, there was no room to move around and forget about sanitary facilities.
Regarding his comment about the current appearance of the elevators, that's easily solved. He obviously clueless about what restoration actually means.
I wonder if he feels the same way about The Alamo? Tear that down also?
Iron ore is one of the densest and heaviest industrial commodities; that's why "conventional" hopper cars pressed into ore service were only loaded to about 1/3 of their volume, and why cars specifically designed for the ore trade had such a short wheelbase. Which leads me to speculate on whether Hulett operators faced any particular peril if some component of the system should fail. Unfortunately, the ranks of those who actually operated a Hulett are thinning quickly, so I hope some first-hand accounts are being preserved, somewhere.
The only interesting idea I can think of would be to turn them into some sort of adventure park with rock wall climbing, repelling etc.. But you only need 1 solo for that. Demolish the rest.
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Historic Elk Street grain elevator to get new lease on life as offices
) and a counterweight on the other. They probably reached their greatest numbers in the post-WW II heavy-industry boom, but were down to a handful of locations by the late Seventies. Two were to be preserved at the former Pennsylvania Railroad Whiskey Island pier in Cleveland, but were dismantled due to maintenance costs. The machinery is stored intact, so an exhibit can be re-installed if anyone ever comes up with a practical plan.
