Buffalo’s Pearl at Seneca One: The rebirth of Pearl Street’s Upper Terrace-Seneca Block

Buffalo New York’s Pearl Street is one of its original streets laid out by Joseph Ellicott in 1804 when he designed Buffalo for the Holland Land Company.?It stretches from the Buffalo River’s mouth at Lake Erie to approximately a mile north at Edward Street.?For the last half century, Pearl Street between Upper Terrace and Seneca Street has been what urban planners refer to as a dead zone, but that is changing.?The first step to reclaim the block is the partnership between Douglas Development/Antunovich Architects, and M&T Bank Tech Hub at Seneca One.?The re-imagined 1970s 40-story tower creates a livelier space by extending the west wing of the Seneca One office, retail, and residential complex directly to Pearl Street’s sidewalk, with a M&T Tech Hub entrance.?The west wing addition is architecturally distinguished from the original structure by its brick-faced fa?ade and generously sized factory-like windows that stream westerly light into Tech Hub.?Although the official opening of M&T’s Tech Hub at Seneca One occurred on April 28, 2021, it is anticipated to be bustling with activity in early 2022 as staff returns from working remotely during the COVID19 pandemic.??

It is a homecoming of sorts for M&T, as its headquarters was located on the block for nearly 40 years at 22 West Seneca Street, corner of Pearl during 1861-1880; and at 222-224 Main Street, corner Seneca Street, during 1880-1900.?M&T will be joined at Seneca One by its Tech Hub community neighbors including:?AML RightSource, e+ Corp, odoo, Lighthouse Technology Services, PCI Associates Inc., Serendipity Labs, and 43North with its myriad of startup companies including 2021’s $1 million winner, Top Seedz.

But perhaps the most dramatic transformation of the block will occur with Douglas Development’s plans to transform a parking lot on the west side of the block in the “donut hole” of a circular exit ramp from Skyway to I-190 into an apartment complex.?If 2022-23 is the era of Pearl Street’s Upper Terrace-Seneca block reclamation, how did the pearl get lost and what role did it play in Buffalo’s initial development??The search for Buffalo’s pearl begins in 1825, a pivotal year in the city’s development.?

On June 4, General Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), the famed French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, visited Buffalo as part of a national tour.?He was greeted by thousands of residents at the Eagle Tavern, a spacious three-story brick structure located on the west side of Main Street just south of Court Street, renowned as the finest hotel in Western New York (WNY). ?An elegant platform was constructed in front of the hotel where Buffalo officials welcomed Lafayette.

Buffalo’s General Peter Porter presented Lafayette to the public and a reception followed. Among those who greeted Lafayette was the great Seneca Chief Red Jacket, whom he had met 40 years prior.?A dinner and gala ball were held the same evening.?Today, nearby Buffalo landmark Lafayette Square, and a newly installed historic marker (dedicated Dec. 13, 2021) there recall the event.

A few weeks later, on June 17, 1825, Erie County held its only public execution when brothers Nelson (age 25), Israel Jr. (23), and Isaac (21) Thayer were hanged for the murder of John Love.?The hanging was held downtown at Niagara Square, located at the present site of Buffalo City Hall’s entrance.?The crowd, estimated at 20,000, came from near and far.?The sword used by Erie County’s first Sheriff, Wray S. Littlefield, to cut the rope springing the trap door to execute the Thayers is on display at the Buffalo History Museum as part of its Continuum: A History of Erie County exhibit.?

Shortly thereafter, the event which forever changed Buffalo, the opening of the Grand (Erie) Canal took place on October 26, 1825 with the much celebrated “Wedding of the Waters” connecting Lake Erie at Buffalo to the Atlantic Ocean at New York City.?The canal created the nation’s first superhighway of commerce and transformed sleepy Buffalo into a bustling metropolis.

Eight months later on July 13, 1826, Buffalo’s highway commissioners changed the street names christened by the Hollanders.?North and South Cayuga Street was renamed Pearl Street.?But why??Carol Sheriff, in her book, The Artificial River, says many new consumer goods made their way to WNY soon after the opening of the Erie Canal. ?A Batavia newspaper in 1824 ran the headline “Oysters! Oysters! Beautiful Oysters!”?That fresh ocean seafood could now be shipped inland to as far as WNY without spoiling was a demonstration of how the perception of time and distance had been reshaped by the Erie Canal.?Perishables, such as oysters, would never have survived the several weeks’ journey by wagon prior to the Erie Canal, but soon became available and affordable after 1825.?The trip from Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes had been reduced to a matter of days, instead of weeks.

The Eastern Oyster enjoyed by Buffalonians was inexpensive. Those who lived in Buffalo could get all they could eat for 6￠, at a time when a single out-of-season strawberry cost 50￠.?Cooking oysters on grills or in stews was the norm until the mid-19th century, when fancy restaurants, following French tastes, began serving them raw.

It is likely Buffalo’s Pearl Street was an homage to the Eastern Oyster, encased in their beautiful Mother of Pearl shells, that found their way to Buffalo in plentiful numbers.?New York City has long influenced Buffalo, and New York’s Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan is an English translation of the Dutch “Parel Straat,” named for the profusion of oysters nearby.?New York and Buffalo also have in common being founded by the Dutch, and both were once named New Amsterdam. Pearl Street also underscores the rich maritime significance of both Buffalo and New York City.

With M&T Tech Hub at Seneca One’s nearly 1,300 employees, along with the 115 apartments already at Seneca One and the 148 “donut hole” apartments planned across Pearl Street, the block between Upper Terrace and Seneca will witness its most residential use since the mid-19th century.?Of course, the block will appear different than it did nearly two centuries ago, when Henry Seymour built his home on the block in the mid-1820s at 52 Pearl Street.?

Shortly after World War II, a United States enamored with sculpturally tail-finned automobiles (extra blingy chrome, please) led to the construction of the Skyway (the 110-foot-tall highway connecting downtown Buffalo to the Outer Harbor), and I-190 during the 1950s. Coupled with the original design of Marine Midland Bank’s headquarters (now Seneca One) urban renewal project in the early 1970s, the residential, pedestrian feel of the block of Pearl Street between Upper Terrace and Seneca Streets was obliterated.??

Yet it is possible to imagine how the Pearl Street Upper Terrace-Seneca block appeared during the 19th century.?Adjacent to Seneca One, Buffalo’s Joseph Ellicott Historic District includes two blocks of Pearl Street between Seneca and Church Streets. The circa 1850-1870 four-story commercial row buildings at the northwest corner of Pearl and Seneca Streets dramatically proclaim “Old Buffalo.” The buildings are now home to Pearl Street Brewery (76 Pearl St.) and Piano Factory Lofts (12 apartments at 82 Pearl St.), which have cast iron Corinthian column storefronts.?Immediately to the north at 92 Pearl Street is the Webb Building Lofts, a five-story commercial building from 1888 and designed by NYC architect Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz.?It has been renovated with 32 apartments on upper floors.

Yet the most significant residential reformation of Pearl Street's Upper Terrace-Seneca block will occur with the anticipated 2022 construction of the $45 million residential “donut hole” building by Douglas Development which includes four steel-framed residential floors atop five levels of a concrete parking ramp.?The structure’s 148 apartments will be a mixture of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units (37 per floor); along with 300 parking spaces, an interior courtyard, and greenspace.?While the building will be located on Pearl Street, it will have an address of 61 Terrace.?In contrast to the historic Pearl Street block immediately north, 61 Terrace will proclaim “New Buffalo.”?New and old, side by side.

If nearly two centuries ago Pearl Street was meant to celebrate the transformational changes ushered into Buffalo with Erie Canal’s opening, it’s just as appropriate a name for the 21st century.?With the Upper Terrace-Seneca block of Pearl Street’s resurgence, it is a reminder that the accomplishments of the block, as with the City of Buffalo, are only realized with vision, commitment, taking risks, and hard work.?Perhaps an old proverb says it best: “Pearls don’t lie on the seashore, if you want one, you must dive for it.”??