Western New York Architecture Deep Cuts
M&T Center (left) and 50 Fountain Plaza (right), Downtown Buffalo, January 2020
As seen in January 2020 from the corner of Main and East Chippewa Streets, the M&T Center (left) and 50 Fountain Plaza (right) are two of the components of the last major urban renewal megaproject in downtown Buffalo to consume whole blocks of existing buildings. Constructed in phases in the closing decades of the 20th century, the various buildings of the complex serve as an excellent demonstration, preserved in real time, of the changing of the guard from Late Modernism to Postmodernism. It was in 1981 when the demolition of the buildings that formerly occupied this block began, and a year after that when the first of the current ensemble, the Norstar Building at the northwest corner of Main and Huron Streets, was completed. While the Norstar belongs firmly to the Late Modern school with its sharp corners, straight lines, ultrasimplicity, and near-total lack of ornamentation, the M&T Center - the second in chronological order - shows the stylistic shift already underway: the reflective glass curtain wall on the upper floors was an aesthetic that would soon pass out of style, while the stout columns, arched windows, and cornice on the lower floors point the way toward the future. Meanwhile, the so-called "North Block" remained planted with grass through the 1980s as a temporary park, and by 1991, when the ribbon was cut on the identical-twin high-rises at 40 and 50 Fountain Plaza, Modernism had fully given way to the initial phase of Postmodernism, with all the stylized Classical flourishes that implies: an ersatz colonnade and entablature adorning the ground floor (not visible from this angle), not to mention those iconic pyramidal roofs up top. Originally known as the Key Center and home to the local offices of KeyBank, 40 and 50 Fountain Plaza have housed office space for a number of local and national companies over the years: Delaware North had its nerve center here in the 2000s and early '10s, and an IBM call center occupied several floors of the south tower for a number of years in the mid-'10s. Nowadays the flagship tenants are the law offices of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman and the architectural firm of CannonDesign.
M&T Center (left) and 50 Fountain Plaza (right), Downtown Buffalo, January 2020
As seen in January 2020 from the corner of Main and East Chippewa Streets, the M&T Center (left) and 50 Fountain Plaza (right) are two of the components of the last major urban renewal megaproject in downtown Buffalo to consume whole blocks of existing buildings. Constructed in phases in the closing decades of the 20th century, the various buildings of the complex serve as an excellent demonstration, preserved in real time, of the changing of the guard from Late Modernism to Postmodernism. It was in 1981 when the demolition of the buildings that formerly occupied this block began, and a year after that when the first of the current ensemble, the Norstar Building at the northwest corner of Main and Huron Streets, was completed. While the Norstar belongs firmly to the Late Modern school with its sharp corners, straight lines, ultrasimplicity, and near-total lack of ornamentation, the M&T Center - the second in chronological order - shows the stylistic shift already underway: the reflective glass curtain wall on the upper floors was an aesthetic that would soon pass out of style, while the stout columns, arched windows, and cornice on the lower floors point the way toward the future. Meanwhile, the so-called "North Block" remained planted with grass through the 1980s as a temporary park, and by 1991, when the ribbon was cut on the identical-twin high-rises at 40 and 50 Fountain Plaza, Modernism had fully given way to the initial phase of Postmodernism, with all the stylized Classical flourishes that implies: an ersatz colonnade and entablature adorning the ground floor (not visible from this angle), not to mention those iconic pyramidal roofs up top. Originally known as the Key Center and home to the local offices of KeyBank, 40 and 50 Fountain Plaza have housed office space for a number of local and national companies over the years: Delaware North had its nerve center here in the 2000s and early '10s, and an IBM call center occupied several floors of the south tower for a number of years in the mid-'10s. Nowadays the flagship tenants are the law offices of Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman and the architectural firm of CannonDesign.