6. United States Courthouse
64 Court Street at Niagara Square
 After the turn of the century Buffalo became one of the nation's important industrial cities, and the home of many Federal agencies. With the passage of the Public Buildings Act of 1926, a new Federal building to house the already over-crowded agency offices, became feasible. By 1928, conditions were so over-crowded that the city's citizens began to put pressure on Congress to construct a building which could house all local Federal offices. The Emergency Relief and Construction Act of 1932 authorized the construction of a number of Federal buildings. The Dillon Courthouse was part of this authorization. The cost estimate for the building and the land was $2.5 million.
The Public Buildings Act had specified that the Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury be responsible for the design of all public buildings; however, due to the economic pressures of the Depression on small architectural firms, local architects were hired to design some federal buildings. In January of 1933, two Buffalo architectural firms were retained to prepare plans for the U.S. Court House. E.B. Green was probably Buffalo's most influential and prolific architect. Duane Lyman, who led the second firm of Bley and Lyman, also had a long and productive career.
Because of the unusual shape of the site, the architects created a pentagonal shaped building. A twelve-story building was planned originally but due to reduction of funds, the building was reduced to seven stories. The corner stone of the building was laid by Federal Judge John K. Hazel on May 29, 1936. The new Federal building was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt on October 17, 1936. With the dedication, he emphasized the partnership of the Federal government and local officials in creating public works (such as the U.S. Court House) in order to overcome the economic disaster of the Depression. The building plan of the Courthouse was dictated by the shape of the site; and the creativity of the architects in linking the site and the building design resulted in a federal building of distinct architectural significance.
Photo and text courtesy of Chuck LaChiusa.
Credits
Scripts: Denise Prince and Jane Kwiatkowski
Voice: Christopher Jamele of Jamele Freelance Services
Audio production: John Davis of Eclectic Electric
This project was made possible in part with funding from the New York State Council on the Arts.
Tour content courtesy of Buffalo Tours.
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