Larkin Building - Buffalo, NY
Posted by: 
Rayman
N 42° 52.630 W 078° 51.117
17T E 675435 N 4749412
The Larkin Building was once a state-of-the-art office building for the Larkin Company. It was demolished in 1950.
Waymark Code: WM1NDT
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 06/08/2007
Views: 208
The following is an excerpt from
New York: A Guide to the Empire State in the Buffalo points of interest section:
The LARKIN BUILDING, 680 Seneca St., built in 1904-5, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The location of this office structure suggested a plan in which the interior would be protected from the noise, grime, and odors of adjoining factories, refineries, and railroads. The five floors, occupied by the Larkin store and mail order divisions, look into a deep, narrow skylighted court, which contains the desks of the executives. The outer windows are doubly glazed and hermetically sealed. The building employed one of the first installations of air-conditioning, and interior noise reverberation was done away with by one of the first installations of acoustically absorbent material. All interior furnishings are of steel - one of the first such experiments - and were designed by Wright as an integral part of the building. Chairs are supported on swinging brackets to facilitate floor-cleaning. Adequate artificial lighting is assured by specially designed fixtures. The top story and the outdoor roof terraces provide for employee recreation.
Omitting any reflections of historical architectural styles, Wright achieved a clifflike red brick mass of great dignity and interest, entirely in terms dictated by the structural materials and the internal arrangements. The great corner blocks enclose skylighted stair towers; the simple side wing contains the entrance vestibule and employees' restrooms.
The begining of the end of the Larkin Company started in 1939. Sales began to decline, so the company decided to move the Larkin retail store from across the street to the administration building. To accomplish this, extensive interior remodeling occured. Continuing declining sales forced the Larkin Company to sell off some of their buildings, including the Administration Building in 1943.
The city of Buffalo took over the building in a tax foreclosure. For two years, the city marketed the building but no serious offers came in. By October 1947, the building became virtually unusable after nearly all the windows were broken and the iron fence around the building was sacrificed for a wartime scrap collection. Throughout 1948, several purchase offers came in but none came to fruition. Finally in 1949, the city council approved a sale of the property to an undisclosed client for $5000.
It turns out the client was Western Trading Corporation. Everything removable had been stripped by vandals, including twenty tons of copper, light fixtures, door knobs, plumbing, and even the boards used to keep the vandals out. The corporation estimated that it would cost $100,000 to demolish the building. Even though the building had been vacant for seven years, public outcry against demolition began to develop. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, and demolition began in 1950.
One year after demolition, the Western Trading Company announced plans to build a truck terminal on the site. Later in 1951, they changed their plans and decided to build the terminal across the street. The council approved the plans, and to this day a parking lot stands on the site of Wright's greatest contributions to Buffalo.
Only a small pillar remains of the original building, which was at the northeast corner of the building. Wright fans began to steal the loose bricks from the pillar. To stop this, the pillar was restored to its original condition. An informative marker was also erected nearby telling the history of the once great building.