After years as “temporary” building, Diefendorf Annex comes down

There was no fanfare, no ceremonial swing of the sledgehammer, but when an excavator began tearing down Diefendorf Annex on Nov. 2, the demolition marked a milestone for UB that cannot be overlooked.

The razing of Diefendorf Annex sets the stage for a redesigned entrance to the university from Bailey Avenue, but also fulfills a decades-old commitment to remove the “temporary” building from the South Campus.

“It’s great to see this project finally come to fruition,” says Kelly Hayes McAlonie, director of campus planning. “While it’s only one piece of our larger strategy for revitalizing the South Campus, removing Diefendorf Annex is symbolic of our commitment to those plans.”

Diefendorf Annex was one of several temporary annexes built on the South Campus during the mid-1960s to accommodate UB’s rapid growth, says Hayes McAlonie. That growth, she says, was fueled by two factors: the university’s merger with the new State University of New York and the arrival of the Baby Boom generation on campuses across the U.S.

“The annexes were always intended to just be temporary,” Hayes McAlonie says, “but we were never able to build enough to keep pace with our growth.”

In June 1963, UB completed Diefendorf Hall, named in honor of Charles Haas Diefendorf, a Buffalo banker and longtime member of the University Council. Adjacent to it, the university would erect the single-story, 26,000-square-foot annex three years later at a cost of $302,000.

Situated on an “island” encircled by a traffic loop, the unremarkable, often-maligned annex rested in the shadows of more distinguished campus buildings, including Abbott Library and Harriman Hall.

But its practicality was undeniable.

The annex provided needed classrooms and once served as the undergraduate library, according to a 1983 edition of The Spectrum, the student newspaper. In February of that year, the library space was converted into a cafeteria at the request of student leaders, adding some 400 dining seats to the South Campus, according to the newspaper.

The annex was “not a bad facility” student leaders asserted at the time. Student leadership even lobbied for it as a temporary home for more student activities -- ping-pong, pool tables, musical performances, The Spectrum wrote.

But over the years, it would serve a variety of academic purposes for the university. Most recently, it was used for the departments of Exercise & Nutrition Sciences and Rehabilitation Sciences in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, as well as the Office of University Preparatory Programs, which was part of the Graduate School of Education, and now is with the Cora P. Maloney Center.

In need of costly repairs, Diefendorf Annex was ultimately shuttered in 2018 and slated for demolition in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and delayed the project.

Now, with demolition nearly complete, the site will be redesigned as the new Bailey Avenue entrance to the South Campus as part of UB’s on-going master plan for renovating the campus and enhancing the experience for students, faculty, staff and university neighbors.

 “We will create a quadrangle in front of Abbott Library between Diefendorf Hall and Harriman Hall,” Hayes McAlonie says. “The new entry will also have public art and a site for the UB Blue food truck.”

While Diefendorf was the largest of the annexes left on the South Campus, five still remain: Hayes A, B and C, and Acheson and Farber.

The Hayes and Acheson annexes are currently used as surge space while the university renovates Crosby and Parker halls. After Parker Hall is completed, the three Hayes annexes will be demolished, pending the availability of funding, Hayes McAlonie says.