University at Buffalo - Table of Contents

Hayes Hall
South Campus, University at Buffalo
Main Street, Buffalo, NY
University at Buffalo - Official Website

ADDITIONAL TEXT  BENEATH ILLUSTRATIONS

Hayes Hall

Edmund B. Hayes Hall, now the home of the School of Architecture and Planning, is a South Campus historical landmark. Originally part of the Erie County Almshouse and Poor Farm in the late nineteenth century, Hayes Hall was the early home of the university's central administrative offices. The clock tower above Hayes Hall serves as an inspiring campus icon.

Edmund B. Hayes
(1849-1923) was an engineer and businessman who built bridges and manufactured autos. He also served as a member of the University of Buffalo Council from 1920 to 1923, and left a bequest of $389,000 to the university.

Hayes Hall was one of the original poorhouse buildings on the Main Street property when the university acquired it in 1909. When the structure was remodeled for university use, the Hayes bequest was honored in naming the building.

The clocktower and Westminster chimes were the gift of Kate Robinson Butler (1891-1974), and and were installed in 1928. The four bells located in the open belfry bear inscriptions related to learning: "I am the voice of life; I call you: Come and learn" reads one written by Cuthbert W. Pound, chief judge of the New York State Court of Appeals.
University  at Buffalo: Hayes Hall (online  April 2016)

2002 Color Photos


Caption: Erie County Almshouse and Insane Asylum, Wm. Wischerath Keeper, Buffalo Plains, N.Y.

Established in response to the growing problem of poverty in Buffalo, New York, the Erie County Poorhouse was relocated in 1851 from its original location in Black Rock to Main Street, occupying what is now the South Campus of the State University of Buffalo.

By the year 1907, the University of Buffalo was rapidly growing, but there was still no unified campus. When the University Council members learned by inside information that the County planned to relocate the Almshouse, they decided that the grounds between Main and Bailey streets would be a perfect location for a new University campus.

The building at the left was subsequently demolished by the University and rebuilt as Crosby hall. 

The hospital building at the right, originally designed by George Metzger of Buffalo in 1874, was modified by  E.B. Green and Son and Albert Hart Hopkins to become Hayes Hall where the University's administration was housed.



Brig. Gen. Edmund B. Hayes (1849-1923).
was an engineer and businessman who built bridges and manufactured autos.  Hayes bequeathed $389,000 to UB.




2002 photo taken from Main Street







Georgian Revival design, except for the Baroque Revival style steeple
  ...  3 stories  ...  Constructed of Onondaga limestone which was most likely quarried on the campus and of (Indiana?) limestone




Mrs. Edward H. Butler
Photo source: August 5, 1974 Buffalo Evening News front page













Steeple.
  Westminster chime and tower clock a gift of Mrs. Edward H. Butler  ...  The four bells, which make the complete Westminster chime, located in the open belfry  ...  Dials of the clock are 7 feet, 4 inches in diameter and are located 105 feet above the sidewalks at the entrance to the building.  ...  The clock and its equipment, exclusive of the bells, weigh 4,300 pounds.



 Note modillions  supporting cornice, dentils, volutes




Ionic  pilasters  ...  Keystone in rounded window arch




Main entrance - Georgian Revival style  ...  Dentilated  pediment  ...  Ionic  pilasters  ...  Rusticated first story




Note modillions supporting cornicekeystone



Shell ornamentation  ...  Modillions supporting cornice, Ionic pilaster at lower right




Pilaster  Corinthian capital




Rusticated stone  ...  Voussoir  ...  Keystone in splayed lintel




One of two air vents  ...  Ball finial  ... Tuscan   engaged columns




Door surround:  Cornice  ...  Ancones  ...   Keystone  ...  Transom  ...  Side lights  ...  Sconces




Sconce

2002 Photos



University at Buffalo’s Hayes Hall Added to National Register of Historic Places



The University at Buffalo’s most recognizable building – Hayes Hall – has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The landmark stone structure, which faces Main Street on UB’s South Campus in Buffalo’s University Heights section, was built in the late 1870s as an asylum for the mentally ill.

The university acquired the property in 1909 as a cornerstone of a new campus. It was named Hayes Hall after Edmund B. Hayes, an engineer and businessman who served on the University Council and bequeathed $389,000 to the university upon his death in 1923.

After a redesign in 1926 that included the installation of the building’s signature clock tower and Westminster chimes, Hayes became UB’s main administrative building. It has been home since 1977 to the School of Architecture and Planning, formerly the School of Architecture and Environment Design. The building was closed in 2011 for a $43.5 million exterior restoration and interior overhaul. It reopened this year, and a grand reopening event is scheduled for Sept. 23-24.

“Embodied in the ‘bricks and mortar’ of buildings are stories that lend to their historic significance. Part of Hayes’ significance is that throughout its history, it has been ‘modernized’ to meet the demands of function and use,” said Kerry L. Traynor, clinical assistant professor of urban and regional planning at UB. Traynor prepared the final National Register application with the state’s historic preservation office. The building, Traynor added, “remains the symbolic nucleus of South Campus and the university. Its bells ring out as they did almost 90 years ago.”

Hayes Hall is the first UB building to receive the historic designation. “Hayes Hall has always been a celebrated landmark for the University at Buffalo and our surrounding region. Now, thanks to research and a nomination prepared by our faculty and students, it’s nationally recognized as a building of architectural significance,” said Robert G. Shibley, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. “It’s a clear indicator of the university’s commitment to historic preservation and adaptive reuse.”



Watercolor by V. Roger Lalli     ...    Includes history by David Mott Rote


2016 Photos






Georgian Revival design, except for the Baroque Revival style steeple
  ...  3 stories  ...  Constructed of Onondaga limestone which was most likely quarried on the onsite county property




Steeple.
  Westminster chime and tower clock a gift of Mrs. Edward H. Butler  ...  The four bells, which make the complete Westminster chime, located in the open belfry  ...  Dials of the clock are 7 feet, 4 inches in diameter and are located 105 feet above the sidewalks at the entrance to the building.  ...  The clock and its equipment, exclusive of the bells, weigh 4,300 pounds.




Ball finial




  Westminster chime and tower clock a gift of Mrs. Edward H. Butler  ...  The four bells, which make the complete Westminster chime, located in the open belfry in the steeple  ...  Dials of the clock are 7 feet, 4 inches in diameter and are located 105 feet above the sidewalks at the entrance to the building.  ...  The clock and its equipment, exclusive of the bells, weigh 4,300 pounds.




One of two air vents  ...  Ball finial  ... Tuscan   engaged columns




Slate roof  ...  Dentil molding












Dentil molding  ...  Onondaga limestone which was probably quarried on the County property  ...  Quoins




Splayed lintel above 6 over 6 lights










  Note modillions  supporting cornice




Pilasters topped by  Corinthian capital




Modillions supporting cornice    ...  Keystone







Main entrance




Ionic pilaster




Rusticated stone








Door surround:  Cornice  ...  Ancones  ...   Keystone  ...  Transom  ...  Side light  ...  Sconces




Ancones ...  Sconce  ... Two details below:


Detail #1 - Ancone


Detail #2 - Sconce




 Onondaga limestone which was most likely quarried on the the County property





Brig. Gen. Edmund B. Hayes (1849-1923). was a civil engineer and businessman (Union Bridge Company) who built bridges and manufactured autos. He was a pioneer investor in the development of electrical power from Niagara Falls.

In 1899, General Edmund Hayes and his business partner,John J. Albright, joined four other industrialists to form the Lackawanna Steel Company.

Hayes was an important contributor to the Permanent Endowment Fund of St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral.

A member of the University of Buffalo Council, 1920-1923, Hayes left a bequest of $389,000 to the university.

History of Hayes Hall:

Architects

In 1933, E.B Green Jr. died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He had been architect-in-charge for the design of Crosby Hall, Norton Hall, and Lockwood Memorial Library at the University of Buffalo. A few years earlier, Green and Sons had won the commission to create a master plan for the entire University, as well as design several key buildings in the plan.

The highly classical plan which the firm produced used Lockwood Library as its focal point (much like the Rotunda in Thomas Jefferson's plan for the University of Virginia) with lesser buildings sited to establish a hierarchy of functions through geometrical relationships. The intent was to create major open space surrounded by academic buildings and auxiliary areas to accommodate student housing, athletic facilities, and service buildings. The strength of their plan lay in its ability to enclose the entire campus and to create a true sense of place and identity..

For approximately ten years, the firm worked on plans for Crosby Hall, Lockwood Library, Norton Union, Hayes Hall, Clark Gymnasium, and the Service Building. Once again, the firm chose the English Renaissance Period as inspiration for the design of the buildings.

From 1933-36, Green Sr. worked on the project until
R. Maxwell James joined the firm, which was thenceforth named Green and James until 1945.


See also: Edmund Hayes Hall Painting by Dr. V. Roger Lalli/Narrative by D. Rote (online March 2015)


Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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