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.

Blue-Sky Mausoleum, Buffalo

"...a burial facing the open sky ... The whole could not fail of noble effect...".

These words, by Frank Lloyd Wright, are inscribed on the headstone of the Blue-Sky Mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Buffalo.

Wright designed the mausoleum in 1928 at the request of Darwin D Martin, secretary of the Larkin Soap Company. He had previously designed his residential complex in suburban Buffalo, a summer residence, Greycliff, in nearby Derby and the Larkin Company Headquarters (demolished).

At the time, the mausoleum was not constructed however in 2004, the Forest Lawn cemetery faithfully realised the project.

The mausoleum consists of 24 crypts, aligned in pairs stepping up a grassy slope overlooking a small lake and if you feel the need to be buried in an architectural masterpiece, the crypts are available for purchase.

Fire Department Headquarters, Buffalo

I saw the Buffalo Fire Department Headquarters from the distance when heading off to the City Hall and never got back to explore it in more detail.

Web sources such as this and this one list the building as being constructed in 1931 and although it no longer houses an active Engine, it is still used by the Fire Department.

Buffalo Design Collaborative Building

The Buffalo Design Collaborative occupy this Art Deco building on Buffalo's Delaware Avenue.

The building dates from 1930 and was designed by Duane Lyman.

While taking these photos we attracted the attention of Jake Schneider, from Architecture Firm and Design Collaborative member Schneider Design, who invited us into the building and gave us an impromptu tour.

Jake was obviously proud of the building and his efforts to preserve it and make it suitable for 21st Century requirements while preserving many of the original art deco features including the terrazzo floor on the second storey.

My favourite part of the building was the main doorway at 443 Delaware Ave which is surrounded by an array of geometric reliefs.