For you history buffs, the following link will take you to the narrative that was written by Anthony Fedele in 1984 to nominate the Central Terminal for National Register of Historic Places status.
Central Terminal National Register Nomination
It contains some interesting facts, dimensions and detail that has probably not been seen before. Take a look!
FANTASTIC! A very interesting and most informative read.
Mike,
That was a great find and it has so much great info. I read every page of it. It really has every detail of what you would want to know of the design, style, and structure of the entire property. I wonder how long it took to put that info together.
It’s been posted permanently on the right sidebar. Thanks Derek, for FTPing this file for me!
What an awesome find!
This is probably a worst place to ask but whats on the agenda for this Saturdays work party?
I’m not sure. You’d have to call Bill, Ben or Hank.
Terminalfanatic -
We have work parties on most Saturdays. Email me at jhall@buffalocentralterminal.org with your contact info and I can let you know when the next work party is.
Josh Hall
It almost brings tears to your eyes when you read the detailed description, and view photos taken during they heyday years, and even in the 1970′s when Amtrak still ran service there. And then to see the pictures and read the horror stories of what happened in the late 1980′s thru mid 1990′s, before the founding members of the CTRC stepped in. I still remember a brief visit there I made in spring 1989 with the WNYRHS, even though there was some water damage then, everything was still very much intact. Somewhere in my collection is a few photos I took on that day. When I find them I’ll make sure the CTRC gets copies for the gallery and flickr.
Very interesting reading on the history of Buffalo too, which I believe is still the gateway to the midwest, and like both Central Terminal and the Erie Canal, is a sleeping giant ready to reawaken, given the attention it needs from the powers that be, both in Albany and in Washington.
I guess it also brings a bit of closure to the mystery of the waiting room benches, on which I posted several months ago, which on Item number 7, Page 4 were stated, in about the middle of the page, ‘have been placed in storage’. Exactly where they were stored, and whether or not they found a new home somewhere else is still a mystery, unless somebody has more info to share with us on them.
I also wonder if Bill Gates got the idea for the background of the ‘Windows 95′ startup screen from BCT’s waiting room ceiling. If anyone has an old computer that runs ’95, take a look when it starts, maybe you will wonder too. I don’t think Mr. Gates has ever been to Buffalo, much less BCT, but you never know. It would have had to have been before October 1979 if he was, when the ceiling was still beautiful. Or if someone snapped a photo of it and handed it to him, many years later, just before ’95 was being readied for release.
(I wish we had more interior (color) photos of the waiting room when it was still in use. It must have been an awesome place, all decked out the way it was described. Anyone who has read my previous posts can tell I’m quite fascinated with the waiting room, at least the way it used to be.)
Hard to believe there’s 2 inches thickness of cork under the Terrazzo in the concourse and waiting room! I hope most of it survived the water and freezeups.
Also, the close-up of Fellheimer & Wagner was brilliant! It saved a lot of time researching these men and their firm, which in 1960 became WASA, after Mr. Fellheimer’s death in 1959, and Roland Wank became the senior partner. The firm lives on today as http://www.studioa-wasa.com .
I spoke with an antique/architectural dealer who at one point sold benches from the waiting room.
About how long ago was that, and where was he/she located? Any clues we can turn up could help us eventually solve that mystery.
I spoke with him probably 4 years ago. What I’ve learned from dealing with antique/architectural salvage folks is that they are highly unreliable and like to talk alot without saying much. He offered his help at the time, and never came through with any information as where our artifacts ended up. Then he was in jail…
(He might have possibly gotten mixed up with Mr. Telesco, or the Tuchman’s!)
Those architectural salvage dealer guys have a code they operate by, and some are sworn by their clients not to disclose any information that might cause investigators to follow a hot lead. In other words, they are instructed to lie or do whatever it takes to throw people off the scent, especially when they know what they are doing is wrong (or illegal). Kind of like gangsters in movies or TV shows. It’s all about money. Unfortunately, people get beat up or killed for messing with them, or for snooping around them a little too much. They always seem to end up getting caught for doing something stupid anyway (or ‘off’-ed by a rival).
A shady lot, most of ‘em are!