427-443 Delaware Avenue / Buffalo
Design Collaborative Building
Buffalo, NY
Photos by Katie Schneider
Buffalo
Design Collaborative Home Page
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Erected: |
C. 1930 |
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Architect: |
Duane Lyman |
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Style: |
Art Deco |
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Location: |
Allentown Historic Preservation District |
TEXT Beneath Illustrations
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The cement-block south façade of the building has been elegantly resurfaced with a faux stucco finish in shades of stone and slate gray and features a sophisticated Art Deco design wholly in keeping with the Delaware façade |
Collaborative-designed fence |
Collaborative-designed newel post |
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The fence, designed by the Collaborative, bears its geometric logo of circle, square, and triangle, arranged vertically, and evincing the Art Deco aesthetic |
The staircase with its fluted oak banister and the Art Deco cove ceilings were salvageable interior details, and even they had to be restored to pristine condition |
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Art Deco cove ceilings |
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Hall casement windows |
Second floor |
Second floor: Interior view of colonnaded second floor architecture offices and beautiful geometric-design terrazzo floor |
An Art Deco Renaissance is Home to Renaissance Values
Profile of a Preservation Award Winner
By Ramona Pando Whitaker
The article below is reprinted, with permission, from the Landmarker magazineAn admirer of the Renaissance, an era of great creativity, Charles Jacob Schneider is himself a renaissance man: artist, published novelist, musician, singer, song writer-recorder of two CD's, photographer, and architect. But the gracious man who extended his hand introduced himself simply as "Jake."
Jake is the owner of Schneider Design Architects, P.C., one of four independent architectural firms that, together with an independent photo studio, an independent digital design studio, and staff, make up the Buffalo Design Collaborative.
The Collaborative occupies 6500 square feet on the second floor of the circa 1930 Art Deco building at 427-443 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, one of six projects recently honored for distinguished restoration by the Buffalo Preservation Board.
Jake Schneider is also president of 427 Delaware Holdings, LLC., which purchased the building in April of 2003 and completed the exterior restoration and interior restructuring at a cost of $950,000, funded in part through loans from the Buffalo Economic Development Corporation and M&T Bank.Jake took on this sizable project because he wanted a dynamic place in which to locate his business. He looks forward to developing other architecturally interesting buildings in some disrepair in the Delaware neighborhood. "It's important to the community," he said, "and at the same time a good investment."
This is an approach others can take as well, he said, as there are numerous properties in Buffalo, with its great architectural heritage, worthy of rehabilitation and restoration. "Sometimes it can even be less costly than building new," he said.
The terrazzo -floored entry and former second floor corridor, the staircase with its fluted oak banister, and the Art Deco cove ceilings were the project's only salvageable interior details, and even they had to be restored to pristine condition. The whole upper floor was gutted.
Today, the second floor is a serene space for creative people, resplendent with the brilliant terrazzo floor, oak doors, fluted oak moldings, and restored cove ceilings. A central colonnade resting on sturdy oak bases demarcates individual computerized staff work stations to the right and left.
The photo studio owned by Jake's wife, Katie Schneider, is housed in private quarters to the left of an Art Deco-furnished reception area, while the architects' private offices line the right and overlook Delaware Avenue through large expanses of glass. A conference room at the end of the colonnade completes the rectangle.
Street-level storefronts provide homes to several stable businesses and happy tenants, Jake said.
The building's Art Deco exterior and a black iron fence surrounding a newly black-topped parking lot at the northeast corner of Edward and Delaware received special mention in the Preservation Board's award.
The fence, designed by the Collaborative, bears its geometric logo of circle, square, and triangle, arranged vertically, and evincing the Art Deco aesthetic.
Jake mentioned with special pride the work done to the former unsightly cement-block south façade of the building. It has now been elegantly resurfaced with a faux stucco finish in shades of stone and slate gray and features a sophisticated Art Deco design wholly in keeping with the Delaware façade.
Interning in Katie Schneider's studio this summer before setting out to find her niche in Chicago was daughter Sarah - like her mother, a photographer, and like her father, a University of Notre Dame graduate.
Zach, Katie and Jake's son, operates the digital studio, designing websites, brochures, and other graphics media for the Collaborative and other clients. Another son, Max, and daughter, Eliza, are still in school. With such a strong family-work ethic, it's not surprising that when Jake finished his studies at Notre Dame and in Rome, he set up practice with his father, Harry Schneider, also an architect.
Their firm, Schneider Design, begun in 1979, and the Collaborative, organized in 1989, occupied a vintage home owned by father and son at 520 Franklin, where, given already-defined spaces, they had to adapt to working between the building's two floors.
It's different in the new space.
"Here, we were able to design the space to our needs," Jake explained." Our staff takes more pride in their work, and we've managed to create a sense of place." He added, "I love having my clients come here. It's just a very nice environment to work in."
A bit of 520 Franklin came with Jake to the new space. Two tall, fluted oak Doric columns, once part of his father's office, and, after his father's death, his office, are now installed in Jake's new office. "I have a sentimental attachment to them," he said.
Also exhibited there are three blowups of photos Jake took while in Rome that epitomize his professional philosophy. One, a magnificent detail of a Roman aqueduct, represents the engineering aspect of architecture. The second, of an unfinished Michelangelo sculpture, represents the emotional impact of the creativity and art of architecture. The third, depicting a portion of the Parthenon, a product of Greek concern for the aesthetics of ratio, symmetry, and ornamentation, represents for Jake the blending of the other two.
He would like to see more attention given to the emotional aspect in American architectural design. "Form too often merely serves function," he laments. "We lose sight of the fact that it is the fabric that is so much a part of our lives."
