Convergent Histories on Broadway

The historic preservation planning studio was composed of graduate students from the historic preservation, real estate development and urban planning programs. These students examined the historical contexts that formed two important components of the urban fabric of the East Side of Buffalo. The two components included the current site of the City of Buffalo Department of Public Works Garage, formerly an arsenal, armoury and auditorium, as well as the surrounding Pratt-Willert neighborhood of the Ellicott District. The neighborhood was home to Buffalo’s historically Black community, where many businesses were listed with Victor Hugo’s Green’s Negro Motorist Green Books (Green Books) travel guides to aid Black travellers navigating segregation during the Jim Crow era. Students worked to provide recommendations for the future use of the City-owned Broadway Armory, and proposed an interpretive plan for the Green Books-related historical resources of the Ellicott District.

The students analyzed the Ellicott District’s history, which included the development of Buffalo’s Black community, and the impacts segregationist and racist policies and practices have had on the area due to Urban Renewal. Much of the studio’s research was informed by the community engagement and development work of the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor Commission (MSAAHC)

The students structured their research and report around the following five questions. (1) What are the strengths and limitations of the normative approach to historic preservation, as well as attempts made by the National Park Service to diversify the stories and places it preserves? How does a non-normative approach to preservation allow for a reevaluation, critique and expansion of normative preservation practices? (2) Using the Green Books as a guide, how do the many converging histories of immigration, segregation and racism, infrastructural investment and disinvestment, and community resilience interweave to create the build and cultural urban fabric visible today? (3) What would it take to apply the normative practices of historic preservation and interpretation to the Broadway Armory campus and the historical and cultural resources of the Ellicott District? (4) What non-normative preservation and interpretation practices can be implemented in the surrounding neighbourhood to highlight, celebrate and protect the historic and cultural legacies of marginalized communities and histories? How can these practices be applied in context with significant losses of built environment integrity? (5) What proposals for adaptive reuse and historic interpretation of the Armory and neighborhood will have the potential to meet the needs for the surrounding communities, preserve character-defining features and achieve economic sustainability?

These questions lay between normative and non-normative historic preservation and interpretation practices. Normative practices are those that align with the guidelines and limitations for eligibility in the National Register of Historic Places. Non-normative practices seek to expand and move beyond those limitations for assessing significance, integrity, context and interpretation. Non-normative strategies of preservation help to raise the question on which histories have been written out. These approaches help the students to see and communicate the parts of history that preservationists, planners and developers may otherwise be blind to including the stories, memories and movements of ordinary and often marginalized people.

The studio performed a close analysis of 30 Green Book editions and the Buffaloarea listings they contained, historic map analysis using Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, archival and demographic research which complemented secondary historical research to develop and deepen the historic context of the Broadway Armory and Ellicott District. The analyses were paired with current demographics, condition reports and amenities connected to the historic trends. The real estate development students conducted market research and analysis and back-of-the-envelope analysis and created a pro forma to understand the financial requirements of restoring and reusing the Broadway Armory. They paired this with precedent and literature research identifying successful examples of adaptive reuse and non-normative preservation in analogous contexts. The report makes proposals for programming and interpreting the Broadway Armory and neighborhood so that they both respect the area’s historic legacy and support the present-day community.

Students
Grace Bird, Sergy Dossous, Charlon Foster, Ted Griswold, Sarah Martin, Joshua McClain, Nathaniel Mich, Tyson Morton, Annalyse Paulsen, Michael Santoro, Valerie Weisbeck, Bree Zuchowski

Faculty
Kerry Traynor

Term
URP 581, URP 582 Spring 2021

Program
MUP, MSRED, MS Arch