A City Built By Giants

Book excerpt: Buffalo is literally a walkable encyclopedia of amazing --architecture, told through the works of internationally renowned masters such as Frank Lloyd Wright; Louis Sullivan; H. H. Richardson; Daniel Burnham; McKim, Mead, & White; Eliel and Eero Saarinen; and dozens of great local architects, including E.B. Green and Louise Blanchard Bethune. Buffalo also contains many buildings designed by modern architects, including Minoru Yamasaki, Toshiko Mori, Max Abramovitz, Gordon Bunshaft, and Mehrdad Yazdani of CannonDesign. These masterworks are framed by the radial street plan designed by Joseph Ellicott and a series of parks and parkways implemented by Frederick Law Olmsted and his partner Calvert Vaux. This result is a legacy of stately, beautiful, and innovative architecture that's delightful in both form and function. It's a rich inheritance for a city rediscovering its past and redefining its future.