The life and death of Buffalo's Great Northern Grain Elevator : 1897-2023 / Bruce Jackson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jackson, Bruce, 1936- author.

Series:

Excelsior editions.

Excelsior editions series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Great Northern Grain Elevator (Buffalo, N.Y.).

Grain elevators--New York (State)--Buffalo.

Grain elevators.

Historic warehouses--New York (State)--Buffalo.

Historic warehouses.

Lost architecture--New York (State)--Buffalo.

Lost architecture.

Historic preservation--New York (State)--Buffalo.

Historic preservation.

Buffalo (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.

Buffalo (N.Y.).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (202 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2024]

Summary:

Archer Daniels Midland got lucky the night of December 11, 2021: a fierce winter wind took out a third of the brick wall of Buffalo's Great Northern Grain Elevator. ADM had wanted to demolish the building since 1993, but each of its demolition requests to the city had been blocked. Six days after the storm, with no public hearings, the building was condemned. A unique piece of Buffalo's economic and global architectural history was gone.0Grain elevators are part of Buffalo's--and the nation's--architectural heritage. Unlike earlier wooden structures, the Great Northern was made of steel; it was fireproof. The steel bins kept the grain dry and the rats out. The entire steel structure was riveted and bolted into a single entity. The Great Northern couldn't burn down or blow up; it couldn't be knocked down, and it was incapable of falling down. When the Great Northern was completed seven months after the shovels broke ground, it was the largest grain elevator in the world. It was built to last, and last it did until the eight-month task of tearing it apart began on September 16, 2022.0Photographer and activist Bruce Jackson documents the story of this key architectural landmark through text, documents, and his own photographs taken over a period of several decades to tell this tragic story that will appeal to anyone interested in the history and preservation of America's industrial culture.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgment and Sources

Chronology

I: The Life and Death of the Great Northern Grain Elevator, 1897-2023

Chapter 1. A Fierce Wind

Chapter 2. Buffalo and Its Grain Elevators

Chapter 3. Buffalo's Architecture

Chapter 4. The Great Northern

Chapter 5. After the Fall

Chapter 6. The Fire Commissioner's Fears

Chapter 7. The Mayor Waffles

Chapter 8. Parsing the President (of ADM)

Chapter 9. Before the Bar

Colaiacovo 1

Colaiacovo 2

Colaiacovo 3

Colaiacovo 4

Chapter 10. Two Courtly Matters

Chapter 11. Four Red Herrings

Soft and Friable Mortar

Bows and Cracks

The Endangered and Dangerous Cupola

Up to Code

Chapter 12. Reason

Chapter 13. If

Chapter 14. What Paul McDonnell Said

Chapter 15. Utility

Chapter 16. Some Things I Heard

Chapter 17. Me

Chapter 18. What the Great Northern Said

II: Photographs

Plates

III: Documents

HAER Report text and drawings

ADM Submission to Commissioner James Comerford, Dec. 15, 2021 (not exhibits)

Commissioner James Comerford: Great Northern Condemnation Dec. 17, 2021

Rep. Brian Higgins to ADM president Juan Luciano, Dec 13, 2021

Anne Dafchik, President, AIA Buffalo/WNY, to Mayor Byron Brown, Dec. 16, 2021

Mayor Byron Brown to ADM President Juan Luciano, Dec. 23, 2021

New York AIA President Paul McDonnell to Mayor Byron Brown, January 9, 2022, with key graphic documentation from HAER Report and other sources.

Campaign for Greater Buffalo graphic showing vertical beam supports of the Great Northern

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438497044

1438497040

OCLC:

1427665937