Cathaleen Curtiss – » As I see it...

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8-13-13

Downtown Buffalo, NY
Some fun info about a few if the buildings in this photo. The Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse on Niagara Square. The glass entry pavilion of the courthouse has all 4,536 words of the United States Constitution etched into the glass. The Statler Hotel (red brick building)was designed by August Esenwein and James A. Johnson (architect) and built in Buffalo, New York in 1923 it offered 300 rooms and bathrooms. Statler was the first major hotel chain to have a bathroom in every room. “A Room and a Bath for a Dollar and a Half.” The Liberty Building, built in 1925, is a Neoclassical 23 story office tower. Built for Liberty Bank to serve as their headquarters it was originally called the German American Bank but its name was changed to the Liberty Bank after World War I to remove any connection to that war’s main enemy. The Statue of Liberty’s that adorn the roof were sculpted by Leo Lentelli in 1925; one facing west, and the other facing east, representing Buffalo’s strategic location on the Great Lakes. They stand 36 feet tall and are illuminated at night. In the background is The Rand Building and the third tallest building in Buffalo. At the time it was built in 1929, it was the tallest in the city at a height of 391 feet. It has been suggested that the Rand Building was the inspiration for the Empire State Building. The building is named for George Rand, a prominent Buffalo financier in the 1920s he helped launch radio in Buffalo when he financed WGR in 1922.

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