Buffalo Savings / M&T - Table of Contents  ......................  Fountain Plaza - Table of Contents

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Buffalo Savings Bank / Goldome /
M& T Bank Branch
545 Main Street, Buffalo, NY
Renamed 1 Fountain Plaza, Buffalo, NY

First building:
1846 at Main & Erie streets
Second building:
1852 at west side of Main Street near Court Street.
Destroyed by fire on January 25, 1865 (along with other buildings, including the Eagle Tavern)
Third building:
1867 at northeast corner of Washington and Batavia (now Broadway) streets - 2-story banking house trimmed ion Connecticut brownstone
Fourth building:
1899-1900 at Main and Huron
Fourth building architecture firm:
Green and Wicks (competed against 9 other firms)
Fourth building architectural style:
Beaux Arts Classical
Dome coverings:
1901 - Terra cotta overlaid with copper
1954 - Covered with gold leaf
1979 - Fresh coat of gold leaf
1998 - Fresh coat of gold leaf
Bank renamed:
Goldome in 1983
Addition:
1982
Bank dissolved:









Click on photos for larger size - and additional information



Postcard

Postcard

 

 

Completed in 1901 by Green & Wicks in style Beaux-Arts Classical style

Gold-leafed dome

Massive clock in a carved stone frame

Stone balcony:

Main entrance in triangular site

Bronze doors detail: pilaster

Medina sandstone steps

Southwest neighbors - Hyatt Hotel, Fleet Bank

Southwest neighbor - Hyatt Hotel

Southeast neighbor - Electric Tower


The Dome
By Tom Buckham
Reprinted from The Buffalo News, March 1, 2001

The dome is 23 feet tall and 56 feet in diameter. It is covered with 13,500 terra-cotta tiles, meticulously engineered to interlock and overlap each other. Each of the 54 rows of tile differs in size from the row above or below it, and each tile is individually imprinted with a row and cast number.

The tiles originally were overlaid with copper, which took on a greenish hue. Three times since - 1954, 1979, and 1998 - the dome was gilded with pure gold. The last restoration required 140,000 paper-thin sheets of 23.75-carat gold leaf and cost $500,000.

See drawing of dome being constructed
taken from "The Gold Dome: An Architectural Profile," pub. by Goldome Bank


Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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