AKG Art Museum
Funded by a $230 million capital campaign, the new Buffalo AKG Art Museum comprises more than 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, five studios, an interior community gathering space, and more than half an acre of new public green space.
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum is the sixth-oldest public art institution in the United States. It was founded in December 1862 as the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy with former U.S. President Millard Fillmore among its incorporators. Groundbreaking for its permanent home was in 1900; the building was intended to first serve as the Fine Arts Pavilion of the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, but construction was not completed until spring 1905. This building was constructed on the land of the Seneca (Onödowá’ga), part of the Six Nations Confederacy (Hodinöhsö:ni’), and it is on this land that the Buffalo AKG Art Museum resides today.
More than a half century after initial construction, the museum was significantly enhanced through the addition of a new wing designed by Gordon Bunshaft and the new addition opened in January 1962.
In 2001, the museum began exploring possibilities for growth to address the chronic space shortage that constrained programming and limited access to its world-renowned collection. After a four-year construction project, the renewed and revitalized Buffalo AKG Art Museum opened to the public in 2023.
The project area is highly sensitive for Pre-Contact Indigenous and Post-Contact Historic archaeological resources, although the level of prior disturbance is high due to construction over the past 120+ years. AKG project plans called for modifications to existing buildings and landscape that could impact National Register-eligible cultural resources associated with the project area.
We performed Archaeological Construction Monitoring of deep excavations resulting from the installation of buried utilities and construction of the buried parking garage and new building. We outlined procedures, ensuring they were followed, and summarized the results so they could be reviewed and commented on by the City of Buffalo, Seneca Nation, Tonawanda Seneca Nation, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO).
The project began with a series of exploratory test trenches dug through the blacktop and concrete pavement of the existing parking lot where most of the deep excavations would occur. Our work involved archaeological monitoring and direct observation of mechanical removal of fill soils in all areas where deep excavations were needed. Archaeologically directed mechanical excavations were done for some potentially intact soils and hand excavation in the form of shovel test pits and test units occurred in a select areas. Excavation and documentation of several potential archaeological features occurred during this process.
Most of the deep impacts contained natural clay and fill soils with no archaeological potential. Pre-contact Indigenous and post-Colonial historic artifacts and some potential features were documented and recovered from near-surface sediments. In some cases, we found artifact-bearing layers beneath fill layers.
All archaeological deposits were documented, even though they do not appear to be National Register eligible. The deposits lack research potential due to their condition and the degree of prior disturbance. No further archaeological investigations are recommended.
Are you in need of UB Archaeological Survey services?
Does your property have historical artifacts or historical significance? Does your project require work with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)? Are you seeking Historical Tax Credits for a commercial project? For these projects and more, contact: Doug Perrelli at perrelli@buffalo.edu or call 716.645.2297.