Buffalo and Erie County Public Library of Buffalo, New York, has recently opened a new exhibit at their Central Library titled Building Buffalo: Buildings From Books, Books From Buildings. The exhibit will feature a large selection of rare, illustrated architectural books from the Library’s collection dating from the fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. The bonus for those who are geographically distant from Buffalo is that, as part of the exhibit, the Library has also made dozens of historical architecture books available online, completely digitized and free to the public.
The free exhibition began on May 1 and will run through March 2018 in the Rare Book Room in the Central Library in Buffalo. The books included in the exhibit were curated to showcase the cultural heritage that inspired the design of the built environment in and around Buffalo, New York. The three architectural historians who curated the exhibit were the ones who revealed the (previously unknown) depth of the collection, over 400 books on architecture and landscape design. The books were originally assembled as a resource for architects and residents in the growing city of Buffalo and served as inspiration for much of the city’s design.
The subject matter of the books available for viewing is wide-ranging, including some titles from Frederick Law Olmsted’s reading list, books by local Buffalo authors, books that show how designers in the past envisioned the future and predicted the effects of the skyscraper, and many more. A companion catalog to the exhibit has also been released in memory of a local architect, Theodore "Ted" Lownie (1936-2017), which details the assembly of the Library’s collection and also describes the illustrations in the exhibit. The catalog is available for purchase through the Library as well as online.
