GLF
Elevator - Table of Contents
Charles G. Curtiss
Malt House
1100 Niagara St.,
Buffalo, NY
Douglas
Jemal in Buffalo (online June 2022)
GLF
Elevator - Table of Contents
Charles G. Curtiss
Malt House
1100 Niagara St.,
Buffalo, NY
Douglas
Jemal in Buffalo (online June 2022)
| Originally
built in 1880 for the Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co., the
two-story white-painted brick building was one of the first
buildings in the country to use electric power from Niagara
Falls to run a series of malting drums for processing. It
was sold in 1911 to the Fleischmann Malting Co. and then sold
again in 1920 - after Prohibition began – to the Cooperative Grange League Federation
Exchange, and then Agway
for use as a grain warehouse and feed supply facility from
1920 until1982. But it essentially has been empty for the last
40 years.
- Jonathan D. Epstein, “Jemal adds Curtiss Malt House to
portfolio after buying Mahoney Building, Century Theater lot,”
The
Buffalo News, May
24, 2022
|
| The
GLF elevator
is one of the most striking in Buffalo, with the two towers on
either end rising powerfully above the silos themselves. The
history of the Grange League Federation cooperative is fascinating,
and closely linked to Buffalo, but stretches out across the eastern
US. The GLF in Buffalo started in 1920 at the 1898 Curtiss Malthouse at 1100 Niagara Street. - Anthony O. James, R.A., 2016
|
|
Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co. The building at 1100 Niagara Street is set on a large slightly trapezoidal corner lot, located on the west side of the street at the south end of the block between Albany Street and Gull Street. Niagara Street is a longstanding thoroughfare in the far west of the neighborhood along the river. Already laid out in 1809, Broadway as it was originally called, connected Buffalo with Niagara Falls. Though currently dominated by aging industrial and commercial properties, Niagara was once a residential street with a number of fine dwellings - Buffalo’s first Delaware Avenue. The transformation of Niagara Street from residential to industrial began in the 1880s and 1890s. The property is located in the far south western section of the Grant-Ferry-Forest neighborhood. An early twentieth century, urban, factory building complex. Multiple components- main multiple story front gabled building, added single- story warehouse section at the south, a reinforced concrete grain elevatoat the rear, and additional outbuildings. Main structure distinguished by stepped parapet, extensive corbelling, and large elongated arched windowing arranged in pairs and spaced by subtle pilasters and recessed panels. ----- The building at 1100 Niagara Street is significant as a good representative example of an early twentieth century, urban, brick, factory building complex. Built as the malt house of the Charles G. Curtiss Malting Co., the main section originally housed the malting drums. It is especially noteworthy for the stepped front gable and extensive corbelling. A reinforced concrete grain elevator was added at the rear in 1921, and a 1-story warehouse addition was appended to the south side; the facility was then used as a grain and feed supply house for the Co-operative Grange League Federation Exchange. |
Photos © 2015 Newell Nussbaumer Reprinted with poermission from Queenseyes, Exposing the Curtiss Malting building, posted on Buffalo Rising on Aug. 13, 2015  "Those of us overly familiar with Niagara Street,
near Rich Products, might have noticed a recent scheduled
demolition that helped to expose the entire facade of the
semi-hidden Agway Warehouse (1100 Niagara Street). The outlying
structures that were demolished were not part of the original
1880s-90s structure, rather they were 1920s add-ons that
essentially took away from aesthetic grandeur of the Agway."
- Queenseyes, "Exposing the Curtiss Malting Building," on Buffalo Rising, August 13, 2015       |
Photos © 2015 Chuck LaChiusa  East elevation ... Queen Anne Commercial style ... Crow-stepped gable ... Corbel table  Corbel table  Note transom window  South elevation   Corbel table |
 October 2017 photo ... View from Broderick Park ... Note I 190 where the car is traveling and the Back Rock Channel ... Building to the left is Oliver Gear |