McBride's Tavern: To Be Continued
It was brought to our attention via email this past Saturday that McBride's Tavern (c.1850's) was in danger of coming down. The ice, snow and recent high winds crumbled the front of the of the building on the corner of Chicago and Miami Streets in the city's First Ward neighborhood.
As recently as January 11, the owner of the building, police detective William Crawford, was vowing to move and reopen the tavern. Details of the building's history can be found in this Buffalo News story by Gene Warner. The tavern was slated for an emergency demolition, and Crawford was given a deadline of today, February 5th, to come up with a plan according to Garrett's city hall contact.
The author of the email we received, Buffalo Preservation Coalition Board President Cynthia Van Ness, had hoped that the building could be preserved, but Harvey Garrett felt that the assessment couldn't be made "without a stamped structural engineer's report, a financial plan with timelines, and some level of comfort that the current owner (or a new owner / partner) was able to complete the project."
Commissioner Richard Tobe Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspections got back to Garrett saying that he would meet with McBride's owner on Friday to discuss the fate of the building. The city had filed in housing court in early January, but Tobe explained that the structure, owned by a corporation, had yet to go to court.
In Garrett's words, "Tobe is a good guy trying to do the right thing. If he's given a good plan he'll support it."
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sbrof
WOW, that sucks. Someone wasn't maintaining their roof properly.
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chris69
I dont see why it needed to be moved....but it would certainly make a great template for the reconstruction of the Erie Canal Wharf district
and yes its historic especially since the building adjacent to it is still intact....so I say....keep and restore the front....and then evaluate the interior. Demolition should be a last resort in Buffalo.
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hodgepodge
who's fooling who? the owner's a cop, they're above the law in this town, and this building is coming down. oh well, another one bites the dust
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sbrof
if the owner actually is a cop that is probably the reason why he was "allowed" to let it fall apart. You can usually see a collapse like this coming years ahead of time by cracking bricks etc... Another one bites the dust because the political bourgeoisie allowed their own to be outside the law.
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Biniszkiewicz
That place next door is amazing. Look at the rounded arches on the windows and the (filled in) arches on the ground floor. That building has to be 20-30 years older than the one falling down? Someone should buy both properties (knock down the one falling in and embark on a long term rehab for that building on the left). Though it's a shame to lose old buildings, losing this one might make rehab of the neighbor more viable (increased light, greenspace, parking, etc.).
I doubt the cop had bad intentions with this property, but I'll bet he wishes he never got involved with it.
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sjcooper
I am all about retaining historic buildings. As I understand it this building has more history for Canada than for Buffalo. I think that Canada should step up and or be made aware of the condition of the building. With the combined efforts of the Buffalo preservationist, the building owner, and Canada this building could be and should be saved.
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NBJOHN
It's like Howard Stern's Death pool.
What building will be next? Greystone? Main near Allen? etc.
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chris_h_23
It would be a shame if this building came down because of its historical significance but obviously it has been neglected and is coming down on its own as it stands. If something is going to happen to save it it needs to happen quick.
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siloswannie
As I understand, the building next to McBrides was the original stable for the Courier News
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br_boy
Take a drive down that section of Chicago street and the surrounding ones, its a pretty neat area. I know for a fact that not the building to the immediate left in the picture but one a bit further down on that side has "Courier Express Sign Shop" on the front. Its an utterly massive brick building that, unfortunately, is falling apart. It must have looked nice in its day but in its current state, one side is caving in and it is clearly not long for this world. Expect pictures of it to be on this site someday.
If you do drive down there, you'll also notice that the street degrades to nothing at points. They ought to take the bricks that fell from McBirdes and use em' to pave the street. It'd better than what is currently there.
Nothing beats driving around the Valley. I highly recommend taking a trip there. If you do it the week before St. Pattys day you'll see some of the streets decorated with Irish flags. Pretty neat.
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hodgepodge
bini, my friend, of course he didn't have bad intentions, and I'm sure none of the slumlords (i mean landlords) throughout this city have bad intentions. what gets my goat is that I seem to have taken more heat from the city when applying for my permit last year for a simple front door extension than these owners get for allowing a property to deteriorate; what gives?
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ECB
br_boy:
The building to the left is the old Courier sign shop.
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buffknut
Is it just me, or does the collapsed wall look like it fronts another exterior wall inside of it. It looks like exterior windows inside the brick. Is the roof really collapsed or is it just some sort of fake front that was shoddily added afterwards? Just wondering.
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icecreamsub
wow....were any pedestrians injured with falling debris?
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RisingDamp666
Every now and then, an old building such as this heaves a sigh and just collapses. I wonder how many others in Buffalo suffered the same fate over the last few decades. Neglect? Most likely. "Fixable"? Probably, but I wouldn't want to try to repoint all those loose bricks.
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gaustad
People need to stop living in the past -
No one ever cares about preserving anything in Buffalo unitl the 11th hour when we are about to lose if from neglect. If it was that important, then why didn't someone say something before, not just about this building but all the others as well.
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viking
Anyone who advocates renovating this structure is both physically and mentally impaired. Before the water and wind damage, renovation was questionable, now it's insane. This property was neglected and like anything that has been, it's existence is limited.
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NewBuffalo
move the building? and ISSA wants to build a 40 story tower in Buffalo as well. Gimme a break, this should have been taken care of in either many many fines for the condition of this building or it should have been knocked down. Maybe ANOTHER benefit of a buffalo cop?
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NewBuffalo
and I would like to move my $30,000 house in Buffalo to Amherst so its worth $100,000 also. Is this even possible?
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Quinn
NB – Be sure to put the Stable on New Jersey near Richmond on the Death watch also. Makes me sad every time I walk by it.
If gaustad is right, maybe we should get a little more organized NOW about these buildings so we are not lamenting the next building’s damage the day after a wind storm.
As gaustad points out, we only complain at the 11th hour because that’s when we (people not in the regular business of preservation and urban planning) find out about the neglect. I post how awful it is every time there is a story about a building like this, and although very motivated to do something, I honestly don’t know what I can do to help, so…
Someone who knows, please make a list of the properties we will be lamenting in the future; the specific issues of neglect (exposed roof, falling façade, etc.); the address of the building; the owner of the building; the owner’s contact information; the housing court history, if any; any available tax credits or incentives for the owner to do something other than neglect (considering the building and/or its location); what are the municipal policies, if any, that motivate the owner’s neglect (i.e. tax advantages for parking lots or buildings worth nothing, politically hooked-up, etc); etc. I’m sure there are more things that we should know that I, as a novice, would not even know about which to ask.
My call to folks who’s expertise lie in urban planning and issues - So what are the solutions? Mass contacting of the owner? Mayor’s complaint line being flooded? Press coverage for the list? Email campaigns to everyone that each person to hears about the list knows, with detailed instructions regarding the method bound to make the most noise? Help!!
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joey
WAIT!! Where are the preservationists when you need them...lets preserve this building AS IT IS..and make it into a MUSEUM where all can come and view Buffalo's great History. I'm sure 10's of visitors would come to see this antiquity of a building and view how foolishly Buffalo's finest deals with it's need to move into the future.
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Quinn
Should be "each person who hears". Coffee...
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benfranklin
Before this happened, an auction had been scheduled for Feb. 15, for the bar equipment. It will be interesting to see if the auction goes forward (don't be too quick to say no one would go in the building for an auction). On the current Soho site ( on Chippewa) they held an auction for the old Fisherman's Wharf, and you could see through the roof from the first floor. It was a four story building. Someone finally said that everyone should leave the building, and the auction was conducted at Garvey's.
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linksfiend
I wis in McBride's maybe a dozen times. On the second floor maybe 4-5 times. I never made it to the third floor. But I agree with BuffKnut about that picture, it does look like a second set of windows inside that collapsed front.
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xosder
These structures have experienced the wind speeds we saw recently almost annually since they were built. They are not being taken care of, i.e reason for collapse. Everybody wants to be a developer. They can't. Partner with those who can.
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RisingDamp666
NewBuffalo, you are totally onto something...there's 5,000 houses in Buffalo that could get really sweet if they were moved to Amherst. Just beware the Amherst countermove: sending Wal Marts into Buffalo.
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gaustad
I think every preservationist, historian. concerned citizen should take inventory of all abandoned, neglected buildings downtown with value.... Put them all on a list and try to save them. Prioritize
We do things backwards here, lets try to save it as soon as someone is ready to demolish.
Rule: If you never gave a sh!t before about the building, then you can't say sh!t when it is getting ready for the wrecking ball.
knock it all down
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