Vars Building, Buffalo

The Vars Building on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, NY is a wonderfully decorated commercial building.

Dating from 1929 it was designed by Lawrence Bley and Duane Lyman the same architects who worked on the magnificent Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation Building in Syracuse, NY.

While the Niagara Mowhawk Power Corporation Building is black and chrome with the spectacular 'Spirit of Light' figure on the facade, the Vars Building relies on carved relief panels for decoration.

Many recognisable Art Deco motifs are represented on the Vars Building.

A frozen fountain with stylised sun rays and clouds sits in a panel above the doorway. The spandrels on the upper floors feature chevrons, triangles and other stepped forms. Stylised floral designs decorated the tops of the columns separating the black framed windows.

Look at the delicately scolloped roofline and the panel on the second storey above the door which depicts a vase or perhaps a stylised cornucopia bearing a wide variety of flowers.

The closer you look at the Vars Building, the more there is to see.