Pierce Arrow Factory Complex - Buffalo, NY
Posted by: 
Rayman
N 42° 56.547 W 078° 52.696
17T E 673102 N 4756608
The Pierce Arrow Complex in north Buffalo was a revolutionary factory that set the stage for nearly all future factory designs in the country.
Waymark Code: WM252Q
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 09/05/2007
Views: 128
A significant landmark in the history of industrial architecture, the design of the Pierce Arrow automobile plant brought together a number of important trends which foreshadowed future developments in factory design.
The design of the Pierce Arrow plant was one of the first attempts to solve the specific requirements of modern big industry. It established a pattern which was later emulated and expanded in factories around the world. The single-story factory building with clear interior spans, window walls, roof lighting and horizontal circulation from process to process was to be the factory design of the future. Although mass production did not appear until later, the Pierce-Arrow pattern provided the perfect physical plant to house it when it came.
The factory was designed in 1905 by Albert Kahn. A few years before this, Kahn was the architect for the Packard factory in Detroit, the first reinforced concrete factory built for the auto industry. Kahn's firm later became one of the largest producers of industrial design in the world. In the 1930s, they designed nearly 20% of all industrial structures in the country. The Pierce Arrow pattern was refined and improved by Kahn in successive generations of factories, but the basic utility of the original idea has remained viable to the present day.
The Pierce Arrow Company went into bankrupcy in 1938. Both the equipment and property were sold. Subsequent owners of the plant blocked off windows and made other alterations to adapt the space for other uses. Unfortunately, the large expanse of open floor space in the factory can not be seen by the public. The administration building along Elmwood Avenue remains to this day and is now home to several businesses.
Street address:
Elmwood & Great Arrow
Buffalo, NY United States
County / Borough / Parish: Erie
Year listed: 1974
Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering, Event
Periods of significance: 1900-1924
Historic function: Industry/Processing/Extraction: Manufacturing Facility
Current function: Commerce/Trade, Industry/Processing/Extraction, Social: Manufacturing Facility, Meeting Hall
Privately owned?: yes
Primary Web Site: [Web Link]
Season start / Season finish: Not listed
Hours of operation: Not listed
Secondary Website 1: Not listed
Secondary Website 2: Not listed
National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
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