Media Advisory: UB School of Architecture Offers a Rare Look and 'Sensory' Experience Inside Buffalo's Giant Grain Elevators

Hundreds of architectural and history enthusiasts will experience the haunting majesty of Buffalo's mammoth grain elevators during an afternoon tour on Friday, Oct. 21, beginning in downtown Buffalo, giving electronic and print journalists rare access to some of Buffalo's signature architectural monuments.

Media are invited to join the University at Buffalo tour for an intimate visual and sensory experience of the historic structures often called "cathedrals" for their enormous size and overwhelming presence. The tours, held in conjunction with the National Trust for Historic Preservation Conference being held this week in Western New York, will begin at 3:15 p.m. at the Buffalo Transportation Pierce Arrow Museum at Seneca and Michigan Avenue.

"This is a rare opportunity to see the insides of some of the Buffalo elevators," says Lynda Schneekloth, professor emerita from the School of Architecture and Planning and editor of a book on the elevators. "These structures are giant machines and iconic features on the Buffalo landscape. People know them from the outside, but to see the volumes of space, the technological complexity and the play of light on the curved walls is an extraordinary experience. They're beautiful. It's exciting to be inside them."

About 250 donors and friends will tour four structures. The invitation list has been closed for some time, but university officials will welcome members of the media during the tours for the opportunity to bring attention to the grain elevators' beauty and potential.

Organized by UB's School of Architecture and Planning, Alumni Relations and the Office of Development, the afternoon tour will include four stops, each highlighting a different asset of each historic building. Visitors will learn how the grain elevators work and hear Buffalo's beer story and see where malt was made. Those on the tour will also get a chance to sample Buffalo's locally brewed Flying Bison Beer.

The Marine "A" elevator will host an exhibit of photographs by Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor and the James Agree Professor of American Culture at UB. These images will also be displayed on a video screen. Jackson has photographed areas of the elevators not accessible to the public. He also has shots taken from the top of the elevators showing hidden sections of the Buffalo River environment.

Because all machinery has been removed from parts of the Marine A grain elevator, UB organizers have planned a "sensory experience" in the giant hollow structure. CUBE Music Ensemble will be performing John Cage's Four6 during the reception

"The National Preservation Conference coming to Buffalo is very big," says Robert Shibley, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. "In collaboration with Rick Smith, owner of these elevators, we at UB thought it an excellent opportunity to display some of our historic industrial landscape. We are also using this as an opportunity to introduce a preservation agenda for the school."

"This is a great opportunity for people to get inside and see these structures, learn about their history and to experience them as potentially being used for something other than grain storage," says Schneekloth. "It's a very, very cool event."

For more information and to register for media access, contact Charles Anzalone in UB's Office of Communications before 2 p.m. at 716-645-4600 or 716-440-8824.