One of Buffalo, New York’s most iconic buildings and a National Historic Landmark, the 145-year-old Richardson Olmsted Campus, is being renewed after years of neglect. It’s all part of Buffalo’s heroic recent efforts to reinvent and revitalize itself from a post-industrial city to a livable—and even lovable—city.
Designed by one of America’s premier architects, Henry Hobson Richardson, in concert with the famed landscape team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the building was completed in the late 1800s as the Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane.
It incorporated a system of enlightened treatment for people with mental illness developed by Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, in part by providing pleasing surroundings. Over the years, as mental health treatment changed and resources were diverted, the buildings and grounds began a slow deterioration.
In 2006, the Richardson Center Corporation was formed with a mandate to save the buildings and bring the Complex back to life through a State appropriation for this architectural treasure.
Today, the Richardson Olmsted Campus is being transformed into a cultural amenity for the city, beginning with Hotel Henry Urban Resort Conference Center and the Lipsey Buffalo Architecture Center in the iconic Towers Building and two flanking buildings (about one third of the Complex). The remaining buildings have been stabilized pending future opportunities.
May 3, 2017 saw the opening of the Hotel Henry at the Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo, New York. Designed by Deborah Berke Partners, the 88-room hotel, restaurant, and conference center brings new life to a previously abandoned National Historic Landmark building originally designed by H.H. Richardson in a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The design of the hotel honors the history of Buffalo and highlights the building’s monumental architecture.
“Our design aesthetic adopts a design strategy akin to the Richardson spaces; direct and impactful yet also friendly and warm,” said Senior Principal Stephen Brockman, lead designer on the project with partner Deborah Berke.
Hotel Henry is just the first phase, and only one third of the redevelopment of the Richardson Olmsted Campus. Alongside and intertwined with the hotel and conference center will be the Buffalo Architecture Center. Future phases of renovation and landscape improvements are continuing and will be directed by the Richardson Center Corporation.
All photos courtesy of the Richardson Center Corporation.