Complete coverage: The Great Northern grain elevator controversy

Apr 05, 2024

The Great Northern grain elevator on Ganson Street in Buffalo is the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator left in North America. It was once the largest grain elevator, and is also the first, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls. Preservationists say the Great Northern's demolition would be among the most significant architectural losses in Buffalo in decades.

It took two full months for a preservation organization to file an appeal Tuesday to try and stop the Great Northern grain elevator's demolition.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture also hoped for a temporary restraining order and stay of the demolition until the case can be heard by a panel of judges at the Appellate Division in Rochester.

"They've taken down less than 5% of the building, so that's on our side," said Paul McDonnell, president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

It took only a few hours for Justice John M. Curran of the Appellate Division to deny that request.

Curran scheduled a hearing for Dec. 12.

Richard Berger, the organization's lawyer, said that is too long to wait and sent a letter late Tuesday calling on the court to hear the case without delay.

"If we are unable to get the injunction there will be nothing to appeal, because by that time we fear there will be such damage done to the Great Northern that it would no longer be of historic importance," Berger said.

The City of Buffalo and Archer Daniels Midland, owner of the Great Northern, which sought the demolition, were told by Curran to file documents with the court by Dec. 9.

Considerable damage has been done to the grain elevator since a 165-foot Ultra High Demolition excavator began pummeling the structure on Sept. 16. About half of the eastern brick wall appears gone, along with many of the steel bins lined up inside in rows of three. But there is still a long way to go before it is completely demolished. Catherine Amdur, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, has said the demolition could take up to eight months.

An affidavit filed by Paul McDonnell, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's president, contends much of the 400-foot-long grain elevator is still intact, structurally sound and can be preserved as an important historic landmark.

The crane has removed almost all of the north wall first damaged by a fierce windstorm on Dec. 11. Within a week of the storm, James Comerford, the city's then-commissioner of permit and inspection services, ordered an emergency demolition citing public safety.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo denied the Campaign for Greater Buffalo a temporary restraining order on Jan. 5 and again on July 5. He reconvened the case after a panel of appellate judges in Rochester unanimously sent the case back to allow an expert witness to testify for the preservation organization.

After Colaiacovo issued his last ruling, he waited until Sept. 15 – the scheduled start of the demolition – to dismiss the case, preventing the Campaign for Greater Buffalo from appealing his decision for almost 10 weeks.

Berger, an attorney working pro bono for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, said he was hindered from assembling the lengthy appeal sooner due to a busy work schedule.

The Great Northern is the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator left in North America. It was once the largest grain elevator, and is also the first, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls.

Preservationists say the Great Northern's demolition would be among the most significant architectural losses in Buffalo in decades.

"We want the court to hear this and stop the demolition as fast as possible, so no more damage is done to this historic landmark in Buffalo," Berger said.

Larry Kowal retired a few months ago from United Airlines. He loves the freedom in countless ways, but maybe nothing is as rewarding as the chance to pick up his father in the morning, and then to go wherever his dad chooses to drink their coffee.

Lately, at least a couple of times in the past nine days, they have pulled over to simply watch as a crane peels away the towering north end wall of the Great Northern grain elevator, on Buffalo’s waterfront.

At 98, Henry Baxter offers testament to the days when grain storage and milling were an economic engine fueling growth in a booming Great Lakes city.

At 97, Wally Kowal does not call it the Great Northern. He calls it “Pillsbury,” because that is the company the place served throughout much of his life. In those days he worked for nearby Continental Grain and then for General Mills, days when this son of Ukrainian immigrants would brush off his clothes and take off his boots before entering the house, to avoid leaving footprints shaped of grain dust on the floor.

The Great Northern grain elevator in its heyday in Buffalo.

Ask Wally to go back even farther, into his childhood, and he will speak of the years when he hurried to the docks in early morning darkness to climb onto the ships and sell the old Courier-Express to the guys on board.

The work forged connections within the National Maritime Union, which at 16 helped him find a job on a freighter on the Great Lakes, work he resumed for a while after World War II.

Wally served as a helmsman on a ship called the Amasa Stone, and the first sign of Buffalo he would see above Lake Erie whenever his ship was going home would be the lighthouse – just before a few familiar landmarks emerged from the horizon.

Among them: The 400-foot-long expanse of Great Northern.

“From the lake,” Wally said, “it stood out like a sore thumb.”

That landmark building – described on the Buffalo Architecture and History web page as North America’s sole surviving "brickhouse" grain elevator of its kind – is now the ignition point for fierce civic debate. After a wall collapsed in a windstorm about 10 months ago, Archer Daniels Midland, the corporate owner, sought and received a demolition order from city officials, who say the structure is unsafe.

Anthony Bannon, director emeritus of the Burchfield Penney and the George Eastman museum: Saving the Great Northern is consistent with the "vitality of the possible" in Buffalo.

The teardown began this month, after almost a year of court battles to save Great Northern waged by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture – an organization now seeking to bring the argument to five state appellate judges in Rochester.

Anthony Bannon, director emeritus of both the Burchfield Penney Art Center and Rochester’s George Eastman Museum, is a passionate supporter of efforts to protect Great Northern. He notes that its 1897 construction makes it part of the same burst of commercial and industrial genius in Buffalo as Louis Sullivan’s 1896 Guaranty Building.

For decades, there was more flour milled and bagged in Buffalo than anywhere else in the world – but a deadly explosion and fire changed that forever.

Most important, Bannon argues the Great Northern is an enduring shrine to the “scoopers” and other working people who built this city. It rose up as part of a new skyline born from Buffalo’s industrial cradle, a globally important area where the Erie Canal – carved out 200 years right now – transformed the waterfront into a granary for the world.

Bannon, who had hoped to see a new Bills stadium placed somewhere in the city, also offered a mirthless chuckle in response to this point: The most compelling argument against building a stadium at a proposed South Park Avenue site was the idea of protecting the Old First Ward’s fragile heritage and fabric – an argument that helped to win the day for Orchard Park, yet one immediately followed by city approval for demolishing one of the ward’s most iconic landmarks.

To Bannon, it is a numbing contradiction that fits a way of thinking he thought we left behind, a breach in what he calls a sharpened awareness in Buffalo to “the vitality of the possible.”

"Red" Shine and his wife, Alice, outside the old Pillsbury operation on Ganson Street, where they met.

The flesh and blood layers to what is being lost are felt intensely by people like Wally Kowal or Jim Shine, 72. Shine, retired after a career as a truck driver and a welder with a small steel shop, was born because of what Great Northern represents: His dad, nicknamed “Red,” worked in the building when it was Pillsbury's, “scooping” grain from ships and railroad cars, while Shine's mother, Alice Clancy, held an office job.

The couple met there and married at a time when Pillsbury was handling roughly two million barrels of grain a year. To Shine, the structure is intertwined with childhood:

His aunt, Gertrude O'Neill, ran the in-house newspaper. And when Shine was a little kid, his dad took him to the top of Great Northern to see an astounding vista of Lake Erie.

Whenever Shine drives by, he contemplates the day 70 years ago this autumn when his father and several other workers leaped into the grain-filled hold of a steamer called the “Steel King.” Shrine still has clippings that describe how they risked their lives to save Ignace Borgorski, a seaman in danger of being killed beneath thousands of barrels of grain.

"Red" Shine, to the right, with shovel, was one of the Pillsbury who helped save a worker from a lake freighter from being buried beneath grain.

Thinking of all of it, Shine had hoped for some imaginative and cooperative solution that could save the Great Northern as a place of industry, history and visionary commercial use. He dreamed of some way, within the restored building, to publicly honor and remember six men killed in a 1972 fire and explosion at the Pillsbury complex.

“To me," he said of Great Northern, "it symbolizes the greatness of Buffalo at the time,” a level of ingenuity and passion that set the table for the aspirations of today.

The place generates vivid memories for Wally Kowal, a 97-year-old Bills fan in South Buffalo who has been married for 72 years to his wife Florence. He still walks for exercise and loves recreational boating, and his vision of Buffalo as it was almost a century ago is as distinct as the way many of us recall where we bought last week's groceries.

"They've taken down less than 5% of the building, so that's on our side," said Paul McDonnell, president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

He remembers the waterfront when it was thick with commercial vessels. He remembers Ganson Street when it was packed each morning with workers hustling to their jobs, and how he would always beep his horn at a close friend named “Whitey,” who worked as a guard outside Pillsbury.

Once Larry Kowal arrives on these fall mornings, Wally often asks his son for a ride to the waterfront, where Wally can think “my old-time thoughts.” In recent days, he and Larry have sometimes sat in the car and watched as the crane brought down the northern end of Great Northern.

It touches off a flurry of images for Wally, from an era when many Pillsbury employees were among his union buddies from Grain Elevator Employees Local 1286, guys he would routinely meet at little taverns around the neighborhood.

Larry Kowal (left) and his dad, Wally, pause in what for them is a routine: Driving to the Buffalo waterfront to simply reflect as demolition continues on the Great Northern grain elevator.

“I went by there every morning and every night,” Wally said. He recalls when the lights were on and it was a giant, rumbling part of the Pillsbury works, once the biggest grain operation in the world.

It was all a major factor, Wally said, in “why Buffalo was formed, and why it became the Queen City.”

He paused. “I’m a little sentimental to see it torn down,” he said of Great Northern. “The waterfront was my life, really. This was the last one standing, and it kind of gets to you.”

As he spoke by phone, from a car parked at the heart of where Buffalo was born, you had a sense he was not just talking about brick walls.

“Buffalo has an embarrassment of riches in architectural preservation.” A comment from one of the national/international visitors who tour the Darwin D. Martin House each year. Their one lament was the razing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Administration Building.

The Guaranty Building, Richardson Olmsted Campus and many churches elicit generous praise from those once familiar with a city written off as the “armpit of the east”. However, tourists who visit because of our architectural heritage especially revere our grain elevators.

In 1897 the Great Northern Grain Elevator was the world’s largest grain elevators. It’s brick “weatherproofing” shielded the first use of cylindrical steel bins. Despite being a landmarked building, the last of the “brick box” elevators in North America, this structure is being demolished.

Doug Jemal’s generous offer to purchase the Great Northern was rejected by the trio responsible for its slated destruction: the owners, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), who deferred regular maintenance; a City Hall who devalued architectural preservation; a judge who ignored structural soundness, allowing its demolition.

Yet, this crucial piece of our history can be preserved. Halting its total destruction would pay tribute to the grain scoopers, including Jimmy Griffin, Buffalo’s four-term mayor who began scooping grain at age 16. This would underscore our city’s former status as the largest grain port in the nation. That 20th century prosperity is now book ended with today’s revitalized city that is witness to tourism significantly fueled by what is now widely recognized as an architectural preservation paradise.

Marcia Buhl

Buffalo

As many of us stand in disbelief at the erasure of the Great Northern grain elevator, we ask: Is it rational to demolish a structurally sound landmarked building?

Should the building take the fall for corporate power, flawed administrative practice and/or questionable judicial acts? There are procedures in place to protect our built heritage, including a review process for demolition permits.

But in emergencies, that process is bypassed and the decision is made by the commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services alone, in the interest of public safety. But the commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services is also responsible for husbanding the built fabric of our city, especially for its historic landmarked structures.

One might assume that with such a major responsibility that the commissioner would seek information about the building under review for emergency demolition, especially if such information is readily available through the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Or the commissioner might ask a knowledgeable historic preservation expert for advice. He did not. He chose to review only the material sent by ADM’s engineers and lawyers and reportedly conducted a drone review.

With this limited information, one might consider the decision rational, but was it good judgment? ADM’s report was misleading by repeatedly suggesting that the building was a public safety hazard because of "flying metal." While valid, this argument has nothing to do with the structure or collapse of the north wall; instead, it reflects on the lack of maintenance by ADM and the fact that the city had never inspected the building since ADM acquired it. There was never any hard evidence that the building’s structure was endangered.

At the first hearing, Judge Emilio Colaiacovo refused to hear additional testimony. The Appellate Court sent the case back to him with requirements to hear arguments from experts who demonstrated, with structural drawings and historic documentation, that the primary structure and collapsed wall were not connected.

In spite of its structural integrity nine months after the collapse and facts about the structure, Colaiacovo upheld his first ruling. He then delayed dismissing the case for more than 60 days and closed it the day before demolition began. As The Buffalo News said in a Sept. 20, 2022, editorial, this requires an explanation and if not forthcoming, an investigation.

Clearly, this demolition should have never happened. Stop it immediately so that what is left of the building will remain as a part of economic/labor/grain history and for the future of our city and historic tourism.

Further, we should amend the administrative procedure for emergency demolition requests so that never again will the city expose itself to the unwarranted influence of a powerful corporation.

Lynda Schneekloth is editor of "ReConsidering Concrete Atlantis: Buffalo Grain Elevators."

At present time, the Great Northern grain elevator demolition proceeds slowly. Our historical building may disappear. With the existing fallen bricks and possibly more, the residents of Buffalo could have a souvenir. The bricks could be sold to residents for a fee of $1 each.

In the future, if a historical building or one selected by the preservationists were being restored, as an example, Buffalo residents might donate their bricks and the “new” building would be named the Great Northern. Then the memory would remain.

Jean Maday

Orchard Park

It’s with a great sense of loss that I’m witnessing the start of the demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator. I’m not an architect, engineer, historian or art expert. Rather, my connection to this aspect of Buffalo’s industrial heritage is personal. My father was a member of the Grain Millers Union Local #36 and was first employed at the Russell Miller Milling Company, then by the Peavey Company and last, by ConAgra, from where he retired. His father worked at Russell Miller, too, and my uncle was employed by Pillsbury.

The place where my dad worked is now part of the Silo City complex, where I was once thrilled to get an inside look at his former workplace, on a Buffalo Industrial Heritage tour. Sometime after that, I participated in a large poetry event at Silo City, where I read my poems in the former Malt House.

So, at this point in time, when I see such a venerable and magnificent structure as the Great Northern on the verge of being obliterated from the landscape, I see a disregard for the heritage of a community and the denial of its cultural possibilities.

Barbara Nowak

Tonawanda

If this were a soap opera, it would be called “As the Heritage Crumbles.” Like many soap operas, it’s having a good long run. As reported last week, owner Archer Daniels Midland continues to pull apart the Great Northern grain elevator at 250 Ganson St. Less than a mile away, another neglectful owner, Darryl Carr, has been taking an easier route to demolishing his historic properties at 110 and 118 South Park Ave. – by ignoring them and refusing to make any repairs.

But the South Park buildings might have a last-minute reprieve. Finally, after more than 10 years worth of disregarded orders and penalties levied by Housing Court, the City of Buffalo has had enough. It’s ready to take drastic action against Carr in the form of eminent domain proceedings.

This course of action wasn’t considered without plenty of due diligence. In 2009, emergency demolition permission from Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak was reversed and the owner was ordered to secure the South Park structures. In successive appearances that go back to at least 2011, Carr has been repeatedly ordered by Housing Court Judge Patrick M. Carney to fix the worst problems and then mothball the buildings.

Carr has been fined thousands of dollars – it’s unclear whether any of the fines were paid – and threatened with jail. None of these penalties and directives has had the least effect. Carr remains free and the buildings continue to deteriorate. The city’s 2020 request that Carr put $100,000 in escrow to hire a contractor to stabilize his buildings was also disregarded. This may have been the last straw that impelled the city to commence eminent domain proceedings, starting with a required public hearing.

These brick and cast iron structures are among the few original Erie Canal-era buildings that remain in the Cobblestone District, which was designated a local Historic Preservation District in 1994 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

Districts like Cobblestone bring heritage tourists, who, according to a recent report commissioned by Preservation Buffalo Niagara, bring an average of $658 million into the local economy annually, and stay here longer than those who don’t visit historic attractions.

The building at 110 South Park, dating from 1852, is a rare example of pre-Civil War architecture in this part of Buffalo. It was first owned by English-born baker George Mugridge, who had easy access to grain at this location. Mugridge and his partners made crackers, which they shipped to New York, Pennsylvania and as far away as Minneapolis. A three-story addition to the building was built in 1871 and still stands.

Built in 1858, 118 South Park is commonly referred to as the Blacksmith Building, because it was used as a smithy from 1902 through 2001. Ed Rudnicki ran Buffalo Blacksmithing Co. here from 1954 until he died in 2001.

These structures saw the heyday of Buffalo’s bustling harbor scene and they lend authenticity to the popular Canalside and Cobblestone area. They would surely be of great interest to tourists and locals, if fixed up.

It’s maddening that a shamefully negligent owner has been letting them fall apart, even ignoring offers from Buffalo developers such as Sam Savarino and Roger Trettle, who have offered to buy and rehab the properties.

The developer team brought in renderings by Silvestri Architects to show how the buildings could be restored. Preservation Buffalo Niagara has had engineers prepare drawings to show how the structures could at least be stabilized.

These efforts, like all attempts to bring the properties into positive territory, have been ignored by Carr, who, since 2016, has been claiming he plans to build a 55-story tower on the site. Let’s deal as quickly as possible with this dubious pipe dream: It’s way out of context with the surrounding community and would also require permission from the Preservation Board, which, to put it mildly, is unlikely.

The only criticism of eminent domain proceedings against Carr is that they have taken too long to enter the picture. Let them commence as soon as possible. Allow these properties to be restored and brought back to life as distinguished centerpieces of Buffalo’s waterfront story.

• • •

What’s your opinion? Send it to us at [email protected]. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

This week I’ve watched the hacking away of the Great Northern grain elevator from my bedroom window in the Old First Ward. The demolition itself is the best evidence of the building’s strength; contrary to ADM’s court testimony, nothing happened when parts of the north wall, bins and pieces of the workhouse framing were removed. The building didn’t collapse. And it won’t, unless a collapse is engineered by ADM.

I have been teaching in the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo since 1985. Preservation is not my field, but I applaud the Campaign for Greater Buffalo and Preservation Buffalo Niagara for continuing the fight to save the Great Northern.

We have heard many reasons why this grain elevator should be saved. While local historical significance is important, let me offer a bigger picture. The Great Northern, a unique type of grain elevator, is important on the national and world stage. Its location on the Buffalo River makes it an icon of the architecturally significant collection of grain silos, which label Buffalo as the "elevator capital" of America. Why can’t we build upon this unique aspect of our city and recognize it as an asset rather than an eyesore?

A number of local citizens have been developing a long-term proposal to list all the remaining Buffalo grain elevators as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The collection meets the qualifications for this application. Given their architectural and cultural status globally, they have a good chance for the designation, but the process will take several years.

The Great Northern is a key part of this collection. As the only existing steel bin/brick box elevator, it shows the ways that grain silos transformed, which made the mass production of food and its circulation on a global scale possible. Don’t we want to celebrate Buffalo’s role in this? (And let’s not forget that Buffalo is the place where the mechanized grain elevator was invented).

Imagine the possibilities that World Heritage Site status of this collection would bring to Buffalo. For example, we would be eligible for new funding that would allow us to set up a dot-to-dot "park" among the various grain elevators. What a great way to attract visitors who want to experience something new!

Losing this building would be a long term-blunder; it would show that Buffalo does not recognize its most important treasures even while the larger world does.

The demolition of the Great Northern must be stopped now. A restoration corporation should be set up to facilitate the process.

If even a few sections of this structure are saved, there is the possibility of framing what was once there. That could be quite amazing. A half Great Northern is better than no Great Northern at all.

Beth Tauke is associate professor in the Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo.

City Hall honored Archer Daniels-Midland’s long standing desire to wait for an excuse to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator by failing to inspect it for decades. It finally arrived when some bricks fell. But it was established by qualified experts that this did not present any real danger to the building or citizens alike, as it remains as solid and sturdy as City Hall.

What we have here is a demolition by conspiracy, between ADM, the city’s failure to understand the value of architectural preservation, former city Commissioner James Comerford and current Commissioner Catherine Amdur falling in line and issuing an unnecessary emergency demolition without even hearing alternative assessments by engineers, and a judge who obviously had his mind made up well before the first hearing of the case, as evidenced by his delay in dismissing the case until the day before demolition was scheduled to begin, thereby preventing any appeal to his myopic and (pre)judgment decision.

The conspirators refused to even consider any alternative put forth to save the building that would have relieved them of financial or fiscal liabilities. The city too often acts more as adversary rather than advocate of architectural preservation. Now, Mayor Brown’s administration forever sadly joins the last great mistake in Buffalo’s architectural disaster; the demolition of the Larkin Administration Building. It may be too late to save the Great Northern, but this event should be thoroughly investigated and people held accountable so that it never happens again.

Joseph Donofrio, PhD

Buffalo

A 165-foot-tall Ultra High Demolition excavator continued to tear into the north side of the Great Northern grain elevator Friday, as an attorney for a preservation organization said an appeal in court is at least two weeks away.

But Paul McDonnell, president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, said the damage to the 400-foot-long grain elevator since demolition began on Sept. 16 is fairly minimal. Archer Daniels Midland, which owns the Great Northern, has estimated it will take eight months to bring down the entire hulking structure.

"They've taken down less than 5% of the building, so that's on our side," he said. "That means there is a lot left to save. It's not too late."

Hank Balling, a civic engineer and construction manager, said the structure, which is longer than a city block, could still be rebuilt at the point where the last bay – there are 10 in all – is harmed if the court challenge proves successful.

"Whenever this could be stopped, there will still be enough brick with the rest of the structure to be renovated," he said.

Balling said he considers the demolition of the Great Northern, once the largest grain elevator in the world and the first to use steel bins, "a mistake."

"The thing that got me going is not that it's just a historic structure, but the last one in the country," Balling said. "This would be the biggest mistake since the Larkin Administration Building came down."

Campaign for Greater Buffalo attorneys Richard Lippes and Richard Berger said their brief for the appellate division is a necessarily lengthy process with few shortcuts.

"We hope to have the brief and the record on appeal filed on or about Oct. 7," Berger said. "We are doing this as quickly as possible, but the normal process of preparing a record on appeal and briefs takes a few weeks.

"It can't be done any sooner because there is a substantial record on appeal and the reporting companies we hire have to have time to put it all together," he said.

State Supreme Court Justice John M. Curran of the Appellate Division in Rochester denied a temporary restraining order hours after the demolition began on Sept. 16, following 10 months of the case being tied up in the courts. The appeal being planned would go before five appellate judges in Rochester, Berger said.

The crane has removed almost all of the north wall first damaged by a fierce windstorm on Dec. 11, six days before James Comerford, the city's then-commissioner of permit and inspection services, ordered an emergency demolition. The crane was busy on Friday pulling out sections of the first two large steel bins of the 30 that have been encased inside the grain elevator's brick walls for 125 years.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo denied the Campaign for Greater Buffalo a temporary restraining order on Jan. 5 and again on July 5. He was forced to reconvene the case after a panel of appellate judges in Rochester unanimously sent the case back to allow an expert witness to testify for the preservation organization.

After Colaiacovo issued his last ruling, he waited until Sept. 15 to dismiss the case, preventing the Campaign for Greater Buffalo from appealing his decision for almost 10 weeks.

McDonnell said the demolition has served to validate one of the preservation organization's claims presented during court that the damaged north wall from the windstorm had no impact on the steel structure as a whole.

"We have always said the steel structure was totally independent of the brick wall, and therefor the damage to the brick wall in December had no bearing on the structural stability of this building," McDonnell said. "The fact that they have removed rafters that connected the cupola to the brick wall, and the cupola hasn't moved an inch, proves we were right."

Preservationists were dealt a blow to their efforts to save the Great Northern grain elevator when an appeals court judge denied them a temporary restraining order Friday night to stop crews from tearing down the 128-year-old building.

Demolition began Friday morning on the structure as an excavator tore down bricks and one bin inside the building.

"That necessarily puts a great deal of time pressure on us," said Tim Tielman, the executive director for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

Tielman was hoping to buy some time through the restraining order as his organization prepared a legal appeal before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court's Fourth Department in Rochester.

Without the restraining order, demolition can continue.

Tielman was disappointed by the ruling but pointed out that the massive building is solidly built and demolition will be long and tedious work that's expected to take months.

"It took them seven hours to take down one bin," he said regarding the large cylindrical structures that held grain. There are dozens inside the structure, he said.

"The frame is really robust," Tielman said. Tearing it down "is not an easy task for them. That's why we're hopeful."

Tielman realizes that demolition will likely continue as they prepare their next legal battle, but the fight to save the building is far from over. "We'll save whatever parts of it we can. It can't be 100%. We'll take 95%," he said.

The grain elevator is owned by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., commonly known as ADM, a multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation headquartered in Chicago.

"The Great Northern Elevator constitutes a safety hazard and is beyond repair, a reality that has been clear to us, the City of Buffalo, and a court in its rulings upholding the city’s demolition permit," according to an ADM statement on Friday. "As a result of these rulings, the city’s emergency demolition order is in full effect, and we are continuing to move forward with safely dismantling the facility."

Earlier this week, Catherine Amdur, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, said the demolition process could take up to eight months.

Demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator started Friday morning, adding urgency to a preservation organization's bid for a temporary restraining order from an appellate court judge to block crews from tearing down any more of it.

"What’s going on here is terrible," said preservationist Tim Tielman as he watched from across Ganson Street the demolition crew's work.

Tielman, the executive director for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, said the organization would press a legal appeal before the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court's Fourth Department in Rochester.

"We are still going to go ahead with the appeal, and we hope to get a temporary restraining order to stop the demolition," he said. "This thing is 400 feet long. It’s 140 feet wide. It is built like a tank. And at the end of business today, we hope to get a stop put on this. That building can continue to stand. And maybe it can stand as a monument of citizens saving Buffalo’s heritage when our leadership wouldn’t.

"Hopefully a judge issues a temporary restraining order," Tielman said.

Even if the demolition crew works through the day, enough of the grain elevator would remain to make the appeal worthwhile, he said.

"This thing can stand even at the end of the day, even if there’s three bins left on the south end," he said.

Earlier this week, Catherine Amdur, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, said the start of demolition would soon start.

The demolition process could take up to eight months, she said.

A crane rips apart portions of the north side of the embattled Great Northern grain elevator.

The grain elevator is owned by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., commonly known as ADM, a multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation headquartered in Chicago.

"The Great Northern Elevator constitutes a safety hazard and is beyond repair, a reality that has been clear to us, the City of Buffalo, and a court in its rulings upholding the city’s demolition permit," according to an ADM statement on Friday. "As a result of these rulings, the city’s emergency demolition order is in full effect, and we are continuing to move forward with safely dismantling the facility."

A few dozen people protesting the demolition were at the site as the company began using a 165-foot excavator with a lobster claw to take down more of the brick-clad north wall where a Dec. 11 windstorm tore a large hole in the structure. That damage to the north wall prompted James Comerford, then-commissioner of permit and inspection services, to allow an emergency demolition six days later.

The preservation organization has since waged a legal effort to prevent the grain elevator's demolition.

Tielman noted the demolition plan ADM filed with City Hall called for first tearing down the north wall, followed by taking out the bins.

The demolition crew, however, ripped into one of the cylinder bins while also tearing down the north wall that had shrouded the bins.

"If you’re asking if a lot of this is occurring because of spite, you know, I don’t know how else to describe it," Tielman said.

With preservation groups rallying support for the grain elevator and taking legal steps to save it, "I thought it could be saved," said Beth Tauke, an associate professor of architecture at the University at Buffalo, who watched the start of the demolition work.

"The fact that it actually is the transition between the various technologies of grain elevators is why I’m so interested in saving it," she said. "It is recognized by scholars and architects worldwide as being globally significant. And it seems like we in the local community don’t get how important it really is."

Gregory Delaney, a clinical assistant professor in UB's Department of Architecture, said an emergency demolition order should not have been sufficient to allow its demolition.

"There’s no ethical reason why this should not have gone through the Preservation Board and through other checks within City Hall and our government that represents us," he said.

"This building is important in a very unique way that is not just about architecture, not just about engineering, not just about culture, not just about memory," Delaney said. "It’s about all of the above, and that’ really, really rare in buildings, that it taps into so many important histories for so many different and diverse people."

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Thursday dismissed a July 5 court case in which he denied a temporary restraining order to block demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator. That dismissal opened the door for the preservation group to appeal to the appellate court.

Tielman called the wait for Colaiacovo's dismissal an issue his organization will bring up in its appeal.

The demolition started a day after the judge dismissed the case, a small window of time for the organization to submit an appeal. The dismissal could have come earlier, giving the organization a chance to get a temporary restraining order before the demolition equipment arrived, he said.

"Now we have two issues," Tielman said. "We had the issue of the grain elevator. Not being able to appeal by an effective judicial blockade on appealing it was a violation of our constitutional rights."

The Great Northern is the last brick-box grain elevator with steel bins in North America, and is considered by preservationists to be an indelible part of Buffalo's waterfront heritage.

Frank Kowsky, SUNY Buffalo State emeritus professor of art history, said earlier this year that the demolition of the Great Northern would be the most significant architectural loss in Buffalo in over 70 years.

"It would be the worst loss since the loss of the Larkin Administration Building," Kowsky said, citing the Frank Lloyd Wright building demolished in 1950.

State Senator Sean Ryan is backed by protesters as he speaks in opposition of demolition as a crane rips apart portions of the north side of the Great Northern grain elevator.

Douglas Jemal, who has called the Great Northern "a gem," made a public offer in January of $100,000 to ADM toward its stabilization. He also offered to pay for outside structural engineers to examine the abandoned grain elevator and render an independent judgment on its condition

"I think it was a gallant fight and it could have been saved and it should have been saved, but it's not my decision at the end of the day," Jemal said.

Anthony Barker, president of Local 36G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco workers and grain millers, which early on had hoped to help save the structure, also expressed disappointment.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo has argued that Comerford failed to understand the building's engineering, mistakenly concluding the hole in the north wall endangered the entire elevator instead of functioning as a curtain wall, with everything else supported by the structure's steel frame.

Tielman said the only two parties that have been inside the Great Northern to document and evaluate its architecture and engineering are the Historic American Engineering Record, the nation's official repository of information on significant engineering achievements, and Reyner Banham, the internationally renowned architectural historian who was dean of the UB School of Architecture.

"Both concluded that the Great Northern's brick wall was for weather-proofing and provides no significant structural support," Tielman said.

Colaiacovo ruled in favor of upholding Comerford's decision twice – on Jan. 5 and again on July 5.

"The records show the commissioner's methodical, collaborative and comprehensive process undertaken to evaluate the building after the December 2021 collapse was anything but arbitrary," Colaiacovo wrote in the July 5 ruling. "Instead, it was quite rational under the circumstances, and this court, again, will not disturb it."

Amdur said this week that she supported her predecessor's decision to issue an emergency demolition. She said she has no misgivings with the decision despite the property still being intact 10 months later.

"It's not the popular thing to do, but it's the right thing to do, and I still stand behind his decision," Amdur told The News. "Above all else, we have to keep the public safe."

A preservation organization pursued an appeal in appellate court Thursday evening, after state Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo in the morning dismissed a July 5 court case in which he denied a temporary restraining order to block demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator.

The dismissal was necessary for an appeal to be filed, said attorney Richard Lippes, who represents the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

Lippes said he expected an appeal to be filed Thursday evening with the appellate court, to be followed by a request on Friday for an immediate temporary restraining order that would prevent or stop demolition.

"We only wish it could have been rendered earlier in order to have already appeared in front of the appellate division," Lippes said. "At this point, that is exactly what we intend to do, seeking a temporary restraining order from any demolition as well as proceeding with the appeal. It is certainly our intention to get it filed immediately."

Catherine Amdur, the city's permit and inspection services commissioner, said Wednesday that demolition could begin Thursday but it didn't happen. It's not known if ADM will attempt to start demolition on Friday.

A large hole in the vacant grain elevator's north wall on Dec. 11 led James Comerford, Amdur's predecessor, to allow an emergency demolition, a decision that has been argued about in the courts for the past 10 months.

The Great Northern is the last brick-box grain elevator with steel bins in North America, and is considered by preservationists to be an indelible part of Buffalo's waterfront heritage.

The grain elevator is owned by Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., commonly known as ADM, a multinational food processing and commodities trading corporation headquartered in Chicago.

Demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator will likely begin Thursday, unless state Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo allows a preservation organization to appeal his July 5 decision allowing the demolition.

"We expect tomorrow to be the start" of demolition in a process expected to take up to eight months, said Catherine Amdur, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services. "This is a challenging dismantlement. We anticipate there will be changes along the way, but this is their initial plan reviewed by an engineer."

Meanwhile, attorneys Richard Lippes and Richard Berger, representing the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, which has waged a 10-month fight in the courts, are racing against the clock in another bid to halt the demolition.

"We are certainly hopeful we can stop the demolition or get to the appellate court, one or the other," Lippes said.

Preservationists and others steeped in Buffalo's heritage are passionate about saving the Great Northern, a rare 1897 brick-box-style grain elevator with steel bins.

When the hulking structure opened as the world's largest grain elevator, President William McKinley occupied the White House and airplane pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright were still six years from taking flight. Supporters say demolishing the Great Northern will be one of Buffalo's most significant architectural losses in decades.

Amdur said Archer Daniels Midland, the property owner, will use a 165-foot excavator with a lobster claw to take down more of the brick-clad north wall where a Dec. 11 windstorm tore a large hole in the structure. That damage prompted James Comerford, then-commissioner of permit and inspection services, to allow an emergency demolition six days later.

Comerford said he concluded after an evaluation that the damaged building posed a danger to the public and needed to come down. His decision allowed ADM to move forward with demolition that it had sought on three previous occasions since taking ownership of the vacant structure in 1993.

Amdur, who has since replaced Comerford, supported her predecessor's decision to issue an emergency demolition. She said she has no misgivings with the decision despite the property still being intact 10 months later.

"It's not the popular thing to do, but it's the right thing to do, and I still stand behind his decision," Amdur said. "Above all else, we have to keep the public safe."

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo has contended the brick cladding that covers the steel bins is no more than a brick curtain wall and should be repaired. Everything else in the structure, the preservations group says, is supported by the steel frame.

Colaiacovo rejected the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's request for a temporary restraining order on Jan. 5, but he had to hear the case again after the appellate court ruled the preservation organization was denied the opportunity to present an expert witness.

Colaiacovo reached the same conclusion on July 5, but in the two months since, he has not dismissed the case, preventing an appeal to the appellate division.

ADM in recent weeks has removed a guard shack, parking structure and metal canopy on Ganson Street, but the company has been waiting on specialty demolition equipment to arrive from Florida. That equipment began arriving this past weekend.

"Their current plan is to start at the north end and remove the remaining bricks and tanks, and then work continuously toward the south side of the building," Amdur said.

Amdur said city personnel will be on site daily to monitor the demolition.

She cautioned against people coming to Ganson Street out of curiosity to watch the demolition due to safety concerns, preferring they stay away.

Amdur defended Mayor Byron Brown from criticism that he could intervene to stop the demolition but hasn't. She said the City Charter prevents him from retracting a condemnation of a building or demolition order, saying that power only resides with the commissioner of permit and inspection services.

Tim Tielman, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director, disagrees, saying nothing in the City Charter prevents the mayor from intervening.

Tyler Miller, a manager of the Wonder Coffeehouse across the street, was surprised and saddened to learn the wrecking ball could in a matter of hours take aim at the Great Northern.

"I think it's a beautiful building, and it will be sad to see it go," Miller said on Wednesday by a window that looks out on the brick structure. "People in Buffalo seem to love that old grungy, industrial setting, and its loss will definitely take away from that."

Archer Daniels Midland could have the equipment it needs to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator on-site and ready to use within two weeks.

The timetable was described by an ADM attorney at a hearing Friday before State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo, according to representatives of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture.

Richard Lippes, an attorney for the campaign, and Tim Tielman, the organization's executive director, said an attorney for ADM told the judge that it would likely take one week for a special piece of demolition equipment to reach the site, and another week to assemble it.

Tielman, in an interview after the hearing, said he was frustrated that Colaiacovo did not dismiss the case Friday, which would open the door for the campaign to appeal and seek an injunction to halt the demolition.

"We don't want this mooted before we can appeal," he said. "It's so urgent for us. ADM has stated what their timeline is."

ADM indicated demolition equipment could arrive soon. (Harry Scull Jr./News file photo)

Lippes and Tielman said the judge indicated his decision might not come for at least two more weeks.

"That's giving ADM all the time in the world to prepare to swing that wrecking ball, metaphorically, and puts us against a wall," Tielman said.

An attorney for ADM referred questions to a company representative, who did not respond to requests to comment on Friday.

ADM owns the Great Northern grain elevator. The structure's north wall was damaged in a Dec. 11 windstorm. Buffalo's then-commissioner of permit and inspection services, James Comerford, granted ADM an emergency demolition permit.

Preservationists have fought to block demolition of the Ganson Street facility, a rare 1897 brick-box-style grain elevator with steel bins. Colaiacovo has refused to grant a preliminary injunction, but has also not dismissed the case outright.

"We had pointed out, as we always do, that the commissioner said this was an emergency demolition because of the imminent danger of the building collapsing," Lippes said. "Of course, now it's nine or 10 months later and there has been no collapse."

Lippes said an attorney for ADM indicated the company couldn't find the demolition equipment it needed in the Buffalo area for a structure the height of the Great Northern grain elevator, "and those various machines and parts of machines are on their way. They're still in transit."

"We hope we'll be able to appeal and ask for a temporary injunction from the appellate court before the equipment arrives or is put together," Lippes said. "We hope the decision comes out promptly, so we have an opportunity to go the appellate court before demolition starts."

Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on July 5 refused to grant a preliminary injunction to halt the Great Northern grain elevator's demolition.

But because Colaiacovo didn't dismiss the case outright, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture has been unable to appeal the court's decision.

"We are both frustrated and very concerned that demolition may start when we are in legal limbo," said attorney Richard Lippes, who represents the preservation organization. "We have no way in which to proceed to ask the appellate court to stop the demolition pending the appeal."

A hearing involving the preservation organization and Archer Daniels Midland, the structure's owner who is pushing for demolition, is scheduled for Friday.

Lippes said he hopes the judge will dismiss the case so an appeal can be sought in appellate court.

Preservationists and others steeped in Buffalo's heritage are passionate about saving the Great Northern, a rare 1897 brick-box-style grain elevator with steel bins.

The Great Northern case is what's known as an Article 78 proceeding, in which special rules apply when appealing a government decision for being arbitrary or capricious, or in violation of the law. But Lippes said what's happening in the Great Northern case is unusual.

A State Supreme Court justice has once again cleared the way for razing the Great Northern grain elevator.

"In pretty much every case I have ever handled like this one, and that's a lot of cases and a lot of 78 proceedings, the court has generally dismissed a case like this when they denied the motion for preliminary injunction," Lippes said. "But in this case he hasn't, so it's still pending."

While the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's hands are tied, nothing is preventing ADM from moving forward with demolition, which then-Buffalo Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services James Comerford permitted after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the north wall.

Lippes has also been struck by the lack of urgency surrounding the Great Northern that he said has been evident for months, whether by City of Buffalo leaders or the courts.

"When the commissioner granted an emergency demolition, that was supposedly based upon 'an imminent danger of collapse,' " Lippes said. "That was in December of last year. It is now September of this year, nine months later, and there hasn't been one thing that has fallen off or anything that has collapsed.

"Any definition of 'imminent' didn't occur," he said.

Colaiacovo also ruled in favor of demolition in January, agreeing with the city and ADM that Comerford didn't act arbitrarily when issuing an emergency order on Dec. 17 to demolish the Great Northern.

An appellate court later ordered a new hearing after concluding Colaiacovo erred in refusing to consider the preservation organization's evidence. Colaiacovo held another hearing, ultimately arriving at the same conclusion.

Perhaps today an internationally valued Buffalo building will be destroyed. City Hall has sanctioned its demolition. The courts are silent.

A landmark building, it is the only one of its kind in the world. The workplace for generations of Buffalonians, it was also a breadbasket for the Western world during a depression and two world wars.

Throughout the past century, historians traveled to see and study how this building was used. Its inspired design concepts define what it means to be modern. Because of it, and what it signified, Buffalo flourished.

In the mid-19th century, families from Ireland were an ethnic minority in Buffalo. They created the Erie Canal, settled at its terminus and made and worked the harbor area. In 1897, they built a giant: The Great Northern Grain Elevator, a huge brick house for towering steel cylinders that preserved harvests of grain.

Immigrants also built homes and lives around the Great Northern, played and fought near it, prospered and were proud. They led the city in every way – in the churches and in City Hall, in the schools and on the streets. They knew their work was key in connecting Manhattan to the Midwest. The Great Northern was a hub that moved grain that was gold to the economy. Fed by Buffalo, New York City became a harbor of note.

The Great Northern is at the eastern end of a long trip from the farms of the American Plains. Grain traveled over land and through rivers to the waters of Lake Superior, and there continued a route to rival the historic roads for tea and silk on the other side of the globe.

A nation not yet 100 years old was in a process of stitching itself together, state by state, tied by the economic opportunities of this grain route, which provided cereal, bread and beer.

The Great Northern’s brick facade was damaged in December in a storm. Its damage was declared dangerous. Without the benefit of public discussion, the elevator’s owners, ADM Company, determined to destroy it.

But the Great Northern is centerpiece of the most complete assembly of buildings, waterways, cultures and traditions that address major 19th and 20th century social and economic movements. There are questions that come with this responsibility: Should we hasten to destroy a treasure? Is there someone willing to stay the hand of destruction?

Within the ownership structure of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company, Jim Collins, a member of the board, also serves as trustee of the Hagley Museum, a restoration of the original DuPont Powder Yards, whose mission is to inspire “all people to be innovative in their own lives through investigation and exploration of our historic collections … ” Other ADM trustees have global experience in government, culture and higher education.

Will a Buffalo civic, corporate, or philanthropic leader come forward to plan with ADM a responsible civic vision for The Great Northern? Is there a leader to take responsibility more considered than destruction of a landmark and the legacy of its city?

A former Buffalo News critic, Anthony Bannon is emeritus director of the Burchfield Penney Art Center and the George Eastman Museum.

A preservation organization has returned to court seeking to reverse a recent State Supreme Court decision upholding the City of Buffalo's emergency demolition order of the Great Northern grain elevator.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, which sued to block the demolition, also urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to intervene by seizing the property by eminent domain and creating a state park by the Buffalo River.

"Whether we win or lose in the courts, the Great Northern over the last seven months has shown that it is not going to fall over because a section of curtain wall fell off, and that, as eminent engineering organizations and documentary architectural historians have found, the building was designed to stand even without any walls at all," said Tim Tielman, Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director.

"What endangers it is the neglect of its owner," he said. "We therefore propose a new owner, the State of New York. That would help secure the future of the last of its species, the technological marvel of the steel-chassied, brick-jacketed grain elevator."

The preservation organization filed its appeal to the Appellate Division on Friday, seeking to overturn Justice Emilio Colaiacovo's July 5 decision allowing the demolition to proceed.

A State Supreme Court justice has once again cleared the way for razing the Great Northern grain elevator.

That July 5 decision was the second time Colaiacovo issued a ruling allowing the emergency demolition.

On Jan. 5, in a written decision, Colaiacovo found then-Buffalo Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services James Comerford made a "rational" decision in ordering an emergency demolition of the grain elevator after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the north wall.

The preservation group appealed that ruling, and the Appellate Division in Rochester in April said Colaiacovo erred in an earlier hearing by permitting only the testimony of the commissioner. The appellate judges ordered Colaiavoco to hold another hearing and consider the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's evidence.

Colaiacovo held the hearing and then issued a ruling allowing the demolition.

Colaiacovo reiterated that Comerford acted rationally and not arbitrarily in issuing an emergency demolition of the 1897 brick box-style grain elevator with steel bins.

"After the hearing, the facts show that this building, while historic and of sentimental interest, cannot survive with a huge gaping hole in the northern wall," Colaiacovo wrote in his July 5 decision. "This is further illustrated by its overall poor condition, cracked facade and failures in the structural integrity of the building."

The judge described architect Paul McDonnell, the preservation group's president and court witness, as biased in his testimony that assessed Great Northern owner Archer Daniels Midland's claims about the building's condition.

Tielman said that is one of the issues the preservation organization is challenging in its appeal.

"We won the (first) appeal based on the fact that we were not allowed to offer testimony," Tielman said. "And then when we offered it, the judge declared our primary witness as being biased and discounted his testimony."

Among the other arguments the preservation organization will make is that more than a century of documentary evidence on how the building was designed was ignored and incorrectly interpreted by ADM's engineers.

"We want to get before a judge as soon as possible," Tielman said. "We have a great sense of urgency."

A State Supreme Court justice has once again cleared the way for razing the Great Northern grain elevator.

In a 47-page decision Tuesday, Justice Emilio Colaiacovo ruled that then-Buffalo Commissioner of Permit and Inspections James Comerford did not act arbitrarily when issuing an emergency order to demolish the 1897 brick box-style grain elevator with steel bins after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged its north wall.

In court testimony Thursday, two civil engineers called the Great Northern grain elevator structurally deficient and a threat to public safety. It needs to come down, both said.

The Campaign for Buffalo History Architecture and Culture sued to block the demolition order. The judge ruled against the preservation organization earlier this year, but an appellate court later ordered a new hearing after concluding Colaiacovo erred in refusing to consider the preservation group's evidence when he first allowed the emergency demolition permit.

So Colaiacovo held another hearing, which did not change his ruling.

"After the hearing, the facts show that this building, while historic and of sentimental interest, cannot survive with a huge gaping hole in the northern wall," he said in Tuesday's ruling. "This is further illustrated by its overall poor condition, cracked facade and failures in the structural integrity of the building."

In his ruling Tuesday, Colaiacovo said the campaign's witnesses failed to support its claim that Comerford's decision was not rational.

"The records show the commissioner's methodical, collaborative and comprehensive process undertaken to evaluate the building after the December 2021 collapse was anything but arbitrary. Instead, it was quite rational under the circumstances, and this court, again, will not disturb it," Colaiacovo wrote.

"The Court finds that the Commissioner reasonably concluded the Great Northern constituted a safety hazard and was beyond repair," Colaiacovo wrote in his ruling. "Further, the Court must give deference to factual evaluations made that are with the an agency's area of expertise."

The judge referred to "the catastrophic consequences to human life and the public" being too terrible to contemplate if the grain elevator were to completely collapse in the event of severe wind gusts over the winter months. In addition, Colaiacovo said, repairs to the structure are not practical and that no one has come up with a realistic plan or the financial resources to repair the grain elevator.

Tim Tielman, Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director, said the preservation group will appeal Tuesday's decision.

"We think, obviously, the judge erred the first time and he erred once again," Tielman said.

The judge noted in his decision that one of the campaign's witnesses, Paul McDonnell, was committed to the cause of historic preservation and rehabilitating the Great Northern, but he failed to offer persuasive testimony or evidence that would suggest Comerford's determination was not rational.

"While McDonnell disagreed with the commissioner on whether the building was in imminent danger of collapse and whether the building could be repaired ... it is hard to ignore McDonnell's agreement with the majority of the substantive conclusions Comerford reached when issuing his condemnation order," Colaiacovo wrote.

The judge also said he was puzzled that lawyers for the campaign called only witnesses that the judge described as having a clear interest in the outcome, instead of an engineer unaffiliated with the campaign. McDonnell is president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo.

Tielman denied that McDonnell's affiliation with the campaign portended any bias on McDonnell's part, noting that he has never received any payment from the group.

"Whereas, the two engineers who testified against us ... both are paid by the law firm that ADM is retaining," Tielman said.

The judge referred to "the catastrophic consequences to human life and the public" being too terrible to contemplate if the grain elevator were to completely collapse in the event of severe wind gusts over the winter months. In addition, Colaiacovo said, repairs to the structure are not practical and that no one has come up with a realistic plan or the financial resources to repair the grain elevator.

Tielman said the court should not be concerned about a preservation plan for the grain elevator or a funding source for its rehabilitation.

"We're not even at that stage," he said.

"Why is it even incumbent upon the public to have a preservation plan and to line up funding," Tielman added, noting that ADM still owns the building.

It has taken decades of effort to preserve buildings such as the H.H. Richardson complex and the Central Terminal, said Tielman.

"It's preposterous to use that as a reason to decide against," he said.

ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson on Tuesday issued a statement calling the safety of the company's employees and other Buffalonians its top priority.

"The court has now heard evidence from both sides and agrees that the City of Buffalo and ADM reasonably concluded the Great Northern Elevator constitutes a safety hazard and is beyond repair," Anderson said.

"We also said from the beginning of this process that we respect the significance of the Great Northern Elevator to the Buffalo community, of which ADM and our employees are a part, and we are committed to finding ways to honor its legacy. In that spirit, we have begun discussions with a local not-for-profit organization to develop a list of artifacts that would be ideal to preserve and spark ideas for how they can be creatively displayed for years to come," Anderson added.

Among the items that may be feasible to preserve from the grain elevator are a small bin, the locomotive, the spiral staircase and repurposed bricks, said Anderson.

"We are working closely with our contractors to determine what can be safely preserved in the demolition process and what could feasibly be used by the not-for-profit," Anderson said.

In court testimony Thursday, two civil engineers called the Great Northern grain elevator structurally deficient and a threat to public safety. It needs to come down, both said.

"We had the north wall collapse with a wind gust of around 65 miles per hour," John Schenne testified in State Supreme Court. "That proved that the design and condition of that building was not sound, was not safe and could fail in a catastrophic manner."

While 180 days have passed without incident, Schenne warned something similar could happen during the next major windstorm.

The then-city commissioner of permits and inspections who issued an emergency order to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator didn't understand the building's engineering, mistakenly concluding that a large hole on the north wall endangered the entire structure, a preservationist said in State Supreme Court.

"I believe that if we get other windstorms up in the 65-75 mile per hour range, which happens almost every year in Buffalo, another portion of this building can fall down," he said.

Schenne, an outside consulting engineer hired by Great Northern owner Archer Daniels Midland, wrote a report four days after the north wall was severely damaged in a windstorm on Dec. 11. He called for its demolition.

Schenne said the fallen bricks contained insufficient amounts of mortar, suggesting the problem could be widespread.

James Comerford, commissioner of permits and inspections at the time of the Dec. 11 storm, declared an emergency declaration six days later. He said he based his decision on visual inspections, drone footage, consultations with staff and reports submitted by ADM, including Schenne's report.

Comerford, in issuing his notice of condemnation, declared the grain elevator "structurally unsound and in imminent danger of collapse" – a position Schenne defended as he raised doubts about the building's structural fitness.

Rhett Whitlock, a consulting engineer from from Manassas, Va., who was hired as an expert witness by ADM to appear in court, also cast doubt on the stability of the structure. He raised concerns about two long cracks visible on the east wall and the stability of the vertical marine tower that rests on that wall. He also said the north wall supports the cupola and a shallow pitched roof, raising the possibility they could now collapse.

"I can tell from this and other photographs that (the cupola) has moved downward and 10 of the so-called H plates that were in that location are no longer there – they fell with the brick," Whitlock said.

Attorneys for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, challenged that idea. They pointed to previous studies documenting the brick wall never supported the steel structure.

An appellate court ruled Friday that a State Supreme Court justice erred in refusing to consider a preservation group's evidence at a hearing to determine whether the City of Buffalo legally granted an emergency permit to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator.

The attorneys for the preservation group also pushed back against the engineers for relying solely on visual observation without any scientific testing or entering the building.

Thursday's hearing was the third since last week, following an appellate court ruling on April 29 that blocked an emergency demolition order. The appellate court said State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo should have allowed expert witnesses for the preservation group to testify at a hearing before his Jan. 5 order allowing the demolition.

Colaiacovo gave no indication Thursday when he will issue a decision.

The then-city commissioner of permits and inspections who issued an emergency order to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator didn't understand the building's engineering, mistakenly concluding that a large hole on the north wall endangered the entire structure, a preservationist said in State Supreme Court.

Paul McDonnell, the chairman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, History & Architecture, which is trying to stop the demolition, said James Comerford based his condemnation order on Dec. 17 on several misunderstandings of how the building was constructed.

"It is important that all options must be considered before making a decision that can never be undone," the resolution said.

Comerford, before reaching his decision, failed to consult original architectural drawings of the Great Northern on file in his office, or review the grain elevator's local landmark application or a federal study from 1990 available online, McDonnell said.

The brick cladding that covers the steel bins inside "is basically a brick curtain wall," McDonnell said. "Everything else in the structure, including the cupola on top, which is hung so no steel touches the brick, is supported by the steel frame.

"This was a failure of the commissioner looking at the structural documents and seeing how it was actually built. I do not think he had enough information to make that conclusion, and some of the information he cites is erroneous."

An appellate court ruled Friday that a State Supreme Court justice erred in refusing to consider a preservation group's evidence at a hearing to determine whether the City of Buffalo legally granted an emergency permit to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo was given the chance to present expert testimony after an appellate court on April 29 sided with the preservation organization and reversed Justice Emilio Colaiacovo's Jan. 5 decision allowing the demolition to proceed. At his hearing earlier this year, Colaiacovo did not allow expert testimony from the preservation organization.

McDonnell was the lone witness before Colaiacovo on Thursday, and he was cross-examined Friday. McDonnell said the commissioner lacked a rational determination for issuing the emergency demolition order – the legal issue at hand in whether the demolition can go forward.

Attorneys representing ADM repeatedly raised concerns in cross-examination about uncertainties associated with the building's condition, stressing that Comerford was responding to the information known at the time when he issued the order. The commissioner cited safety and public welfare concerns after considering drone imagery, an engineering report and consultations with city housing inspectors and the fire commissioner.

McDonnell, a former senior architect and director of facilities with Buffalo Public Schools, said he called Comerford two days after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the structure to offer his help, but never got a call back.

Gwen Howard, who succeeded McDonnell as chair of the city's Preservation Board, said Comerford informed her he had reviewed materials and wanted to give her a heads-up that he was leaning toward issuing the demolition order. She said he didn't seek her advice.

"The receivership is a great idea for a city like Buffalo, where our housing stock is so old and there is so much worth preserving," Housing Court Judge Patrick M. Carney said.

"I stressed that I felt that was not a prudent decision or necessary," said Howard, also a certified New York State building inspector.

McDonnell refuted other claims by Comerford, some cited in reports commissioned by Archer Daniels Midland that Comerford said he had read before reaching his decision.

There was no significant bowing, movement or cracking in the walls, McDonnell said.

McDonnell also pushed back against claims that the mortar had seriously eroded.

"We do not have any evidence, any testing or any reason to know that the walls have lost any type of mortar adhesion inside," he said.

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

McDonnell said the structure was not a fire hazard, noting the brick wall was fireproof and there haven't been active operations in decades.

William Renaldo, the city's fire commissioner and the lone witness for the city and ADM over the two days of the hearing, said he thought the building should be demolished because of "grave concerns" he had after meeting with Comerford and reviewing drone footage.

Renaldo said he was concerned that if the whole structure collapsed, it could threaten firefighting capacities on Ganson Street and endanger the Edward Cotter fireboat and other ships passing by. He also said he didn't know if there were combustibles or industrial waste inside that could pose a hazard to firefighters if they entered the structure.

McDonnell and Howard said Comerford was mistaken in saying the Great Northern was unsafe in part due to the lack of control joints. Both said control joints aren't appropriate for the building and weren't used when the Great Northern was built in 1897.

McDonnell also said reports commissioned by ADM that Comerford consulted lacked documentation, construction drawings and photography typically found in such documents, or evidence of any tests conducted during the the three decades the company has sought to demolish the Great Northern.

The Great Northern is the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator left in North America. It is also the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls.

Preservationists say demolishing the Great Northern would be among the most significant architectural losses in Buffalo in decades.

The hearing will resume June 9, with a decision by Colaiacovo expected to follow days or weeks later.

And, once again, it’s still standing. What do you know?

We made the same observation in February, as the Great Northern grain elevator defied the idea that it was in crisis and threatening to collapse.

That was two months after the windstorm that tore a hole in its façade. Now, five months after the damage was inflicted, the grain elevator remains wounded but otherwise none the worse. It’s a fact that judges, lawyers, preservationists and others need to keep in mind as they reconsider the crazy order to tear down this historic structure.

The longer this goes on, the more obvious it becomes that opponents of demolition are on the right side of this: The damage, though it may appear severe to the untrained eye, is superficial – cosmetic, even. Therefore, any order allowing the building to be razed is based not on any threat to the building or the people near it, but on a tortured legal interpretation of the order, itself.

Maybe that won’t happen. An appeals court last week ruled that Justice Emilio Colaiacovo erred in not considering evidence offered by a preservation group, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture. The state Appellate Division in Rochester reversed Colaiacovo’s ruling that would have allowed the historic building to be demolished and ordered him to hold a new hearing. In the meantime, a restraining order continues to prevent demolition.

James Comerford, then the city’s commissioner of permits and inspections, signed the demolition order on Dec. 17, six days after the storm. But today, 143 days after the “emergency” order was issued, the building remains defiantly sturdy, despite a nasty hole in one wall.

That goes to the preservation group’s point. Said Tim Tielman, the group’s director: “We are confident that once our experts and evidence are put before the court, it will become clear that the city and Commissioner Comerford acted arbitrarily and capriciously in issuing an emergency demolition order that clearly was not necessary.”

Predictably, the elevator’s owner, Archer Daniels Midland, insists – the building’s refusal to collapse notwithstanding – that great danger exists and that “demolition is necessary to protect our employees, our neighbors and the public.”

But as one expert observed in an “Another Voice” column last month, the building’s innovative structure keeps it sound. Inside, “giant steel cylindrical grain bins are riveted together and to the frame to create a single solid mass of steel anchored to bedrock,” wrote Paul McDonnell, president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo and president-elect of the American Institute of Architects, New York State.

The brick wall that was damaged is several feet thick, McDonnell wrote, and serves merely as an envelope that “keeps the weather out and bins shaded.” Everything inside is supported by the steel frame. No steel touches the brick.

So, the risk is that any loose bricks could fall, injuring a person or property. But it’s been five months since the storm and not only has that not happened, but no effort has been made to repair the damage. That’s not surprising, since ADM has been angling for years to tear the structure down. It doesn’t want the thing.

But the grain elevator is historic. Not only is the building old – it was built in 1897 – but it’s the last remaining brick-enclosed steel structure elevator in North America. Less significant, perhaps, but adding to its value is that it is the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls.

A lot of people want to save this historic grain elevator, including Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown who urged ADM to save it even though his commissioner signed its death warrant. Developer Douglas Jemal, who says it can easily be saved and repurposed, has offered to buy it. Only ADM wants to tear it down.

It shouldn’t be allowed. There is no emergency. There is only the fixable damage that came from a 2021 storm and years of deferred maintenance.

• • •

What’s your opinion? Send it to us at [email protected]. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

An appellate court ruled Friday that a State Supreme Court justice erred in refusing to consider a preservation group's evidence at a hearing to determine whether the City of Buffalo legally granted an emergency permit to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator.

The Appellate Division in Rochester reversed Justice Emilio Colaiacovo's ruling allowing the grain elevator's demolition and also reinstated the preservation group's legal action against the city. A restraining order remains in place. And the five appellate justices instructed Colaiacovo to hold another hearing on the matter.

An attorney for a preservation organization urged the five-member Appellate Division in Rochester on Wednesday to overturn a State Supreme Court ruling that the Great Northern grain elevator, the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America, be torn down.

Friday's ruling protects the grain elevator for now, but doesn't guarantee that it will be saved. The decision means expert testimony can be heard that the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture contends will show James Comerford, then-commissioner of permits and inspections, "lacked a rational basis" in issuing the emergency demolition permit on Dec. 17.

Comerford's decision came six days after a windstorm tore a large hole in the northern wall, which he concluded had rendered the building in danger of collapse and posed an immediate threat to public safety.

"This is a tremendous victory for all the citizens of the City of Buffalo and advances the preservation of the Great Northern Elevator," Tim Tielman, Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director, said of Friday's ruling.

Supporters of the Great Northern grain elevator who rallied Thursday at City Hall cast doubt on an engineering report by Archer Daniels Midland justifying the demolition of the locally designated historic structure.

"We are confident that once our experts and evidence are put before the court, it will become clear that the city and Commissioner Comerford acted arbitrarily and capriciously in issuing an emergency demolition order that clearly was not necessary," he said.

"We respect the decision of the court," said Michael DeGeorge, Mayor Byron Brown's spokesman.

ADM issued a statement saying the only way to ensure the public's safety is to "dismantle the elevator."

"We look forward to presenting facts to the court to demonstrate what independent engineers and the city have concluded – that demolition is necessary to protect our employees, our neighbors and the public," the statement said.

Preservationists say demolishing the Great Northern would be among the most significant architectural losses in Buffalo in decades.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

The Great Northern, built in 1897, is the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator left in North America. It is also the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls.

"It would be the worst loss since the loss of the Larkin Administration Building," said Frank Kowsky, SUNY Buffalo State emeritus professor of art history, citing the Frank Lloyd Wright building demolished in 1950. "It's a world-class monument of industrial architecture."

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo believes expert testimony will show the damage to the Great Northern doesn't threaten the elevator's structural integrity, and that Comerford made a rash decision in ordering a demolition.

During the fact-finding hearing, Colaiacovo said expert opinions with ideas on how to save the building were outside the scope of the court's evaluation.

"This should not be perceived as an invitation for a battle of the experts – engineers versus engineers – as to whether or not the property can be salvaged," Colaiacovo said at the hearing. "The issue is narrowly defined by how the city reached the conclusion that a demolition order would be necessary."

The order freezes an emergency demolition order issued by the City of Buffalo six days after a Dec. 11 windstorm created a large hole in the structure's north wall.

But the Appellate Division concluded Colaiacovo needed to allow expert testimony.

"At the hearing, the court permitted only the testimony of the commissioner," the ruling said.

"The court erred in refusing to consider (Campaign for Greater Buffalo's) proposed evidence, inasmuch as it should have afforded the petitioner the opportunity to submit any competent and relevant proof," according to the appellate decision.

Colaiacovo upheld Comerford's decision on Jan. 5. Appellate Justice Tracey Bannister granted a temporary restraining order Jan. 14. That prevented Archer Daniels Midland, the Chicago commodities giant, from tearing down the Great Northern.

The grain elevator has stood for nearly five months amid wintry conditions with no evident change in its condition.

Rep. Brian Higgins, a Democrat, and Rep. Christopher Jacobs, a Republican, have called on ADM to save the Great Northern. The Common Council passed a resolution also urging ADM to fix the local landmark, which Comerford revealed had never been inspected by the city since ADM took ownership in 1993.

Developer Douglas Jemal publicly proposed buying the Great Northern and later offered ADM $100,000 toward stabilizing the building. But ADM attorney Brian Melber has said the company has no interest in selling the structure, even if it could be reused, because of its close proximity to ADM's flour mill.

Most of us know that when we die, we cannot take our worldly possessions with us; not gold, or anything else that we hold of value; once we die. Therein lies the essence of the perspective that I take regarding the Great Northern grain elevator. We humans tend to place too much importance on mere inanimate objects.

I am behind preserving certain historic structures. Razing the Darwin Martin House would be foolish. But the GNGE is, and has been, for a long time, a monstrosity. It’s a bunch of giant steel cans inside a brick sarcophagus. Driving by it all these years, I never once reveled in its beauty. That’s because it is an eyesore. And now it has a huge hole in one of its walls.

I get it; the GNGE played an important part in the industrial history of the once great City of Buffalo. Perhaps someone should do a Ken Burns style documentary. After that, knock it down. It had its time and served its purpose for many years. There is no shortage of silos in Buffalos’ First Ward neighborhood. Let it go. Perhaps the hundreds of thousands of bricks that could be salvaged could be used on rehab projects to preserve other, more worthy buildings.

John Swigonski

North Tonawanda

An attorney for a preservation organization urged the five-member Appellate Division in Rochester on Wednesday to overturn a State Supreme Court ruling that the Great Northern grain elevator, the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America, be torn down.

But one justice pushed back on the idea that the matter was not handled correctly, noting that it could have been viewed as an urgent threat to public safety.

The Great Northern grain elevator has been granted another temporary reprieve from demolition.

A decision by the court is expected in coming weeks.

Richard Lippes, an attorney for Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, said James Comerford, then-commissioner of permits and inspections, should have sought the evaluation of a preservation expert before declaring an emergency demolition on Dec. 17, 2021.

That occurred six days after a windstorm resulted in a large hole in the northern wall, which Comerford concluded was a danger that needed immediate action.

Supporters of the Great Northern grain elevator who rallied Thursday at City Hall cast doubt on an engineering report by Archer Daniels Midland justifying the demolition of the locally designated historic structure.

Lippes also argued during the 20-minute hearing that expert testimony should have been allowed in a fact-finding hearing held by Justice Emilio Colaiacovo to show Comerford acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" prior to the judge's Jan. 5 ruling in favor of demolishing the 1897 structure.

"The commissioner didn't make any attempts to contact a preservation architect or engineer to see whether or not, in fact, the building was a danger, and whether or not if the danger could be abated," Lippes said. "That, in and of itself, we believe, is an abuse of discretion on the part of the trial judge, and requires this court to reverse and to give us an opportunity to present our evidence."

Lippes held up the court case Albany v. Fisher as an example of a building commissioner who wanted to knock down an endangered building ordering an independent evaluation by a structural engineer.

"The building commissioner did exactly what we said building commissioners should do," Lippes told the court. "When he had two different experts saying two different things, he ordered an independent evaluation of the building by a structural engineer."

Lippes also contended the Buffalo Preservation Ordinance required the commissioner to determine whether actions other than demolition could be taken to preserve the Great Northern.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

But Justice Erin M. Peradotto cast doubt on that.

"The argument was that this grain elevator committed an immediate threat to the safety of citizens, the people who might be in the area," Peradotto said. "I'm not so sure all of that is required when you've got an immediate threat situation."

Attorneys for the City of Buffalo and Archer Daniels Midland said Comerford demonstrated rational judgment in rendering his decision. That was all that was required to show he executed his job correctly with the emergency powers he is granted.

"The law is well settled," said Edward Markarian, ADM's attorney. "It does not matter if third parties, such as the petitioner, disagree."

Markarian said Comerford inspected the site, consulted with his team, did a drone examination, reviewed engineering reports submitted by ADM and consulted with the fire commissioner. He was under no requirement to take preservation concerns into consideration before rendering his decision, Markarian said.

In his first public comments on the Great Northern since a Jan. 5 State Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for its demolition, Brown told The News the city's reason for not yet releasing an emergency demolition permit to ADM has been merely procedural.

"The standard of review is not what the questions may be suggesting," he told to the court. "The standard is what did the commissioner have in front of him."

But several justices pushed back at this line of reasoning.

"What he had in front of him, or what he could have had in front of him?" Justice Patrick H. NeMoyer asked.

"Well, the question, Your Honor, is did he go through a thorough enough process to have a rational basis?" Markarian said.

"But if you exclude all evidence on the other side and just take one side, how are we to determine whether it's a rational basis or not?" NeMoyer asked.

"I want to save the Great Northern, and I won't let ADM bully this city around," Jemal said.

When city attorney David Lee said the fact-finding hearing Colaiacovo held wasn't required, Justice Tracey A. Bannister interrupted him.

"But the court did convene a fact-finding hearing, so I think we would assume they are looking for the facts," Bannister said.

Lee said the only facts relevant were those that supported whether Comerford's decision-making was rational. He also asserted Colaiacovo had all the evidence needed before him to render his decision.

Lee said that even if preservation experts doubted Comerford's decision, it wouldn't make any difference.

"We have case law cited in our briefs that that is not going to be enough to annul the determination of the commissioner," Lee said. "So you're sort of wasting ... "

"It is important that all options must be considered before making a decision that can never be undone," the resolution said.

"I don't know that I agree with that," interrupted Peradotto. "It depends on the nature of the proof that's offered. If the opinions establish that there is no rational basis for the commissioner's conclusion, it seems to me that evidence could come forth establishing that – or not."

When Lee said it was already known what "proof" would be introduced, Justice Nancy E. Smith retorted, "We may really need to have that actual testimony."

Markarian said ADM, which has attempted to demolish the Great Northern on three occasions dating back to 1996, was "neutral" on the grain elevator. When he described what happened to the Great Northern as "an extraordinary collapse," Bannister interrupted him in mid-sentence.

"Is it so extraordinary?" she asked. "Or isn't it exactly the same as the collapse of the same wall once before," referring to a collapse that occurred in 1907.

"No, this is a 10-story collapse," Markarian said. "As a Buffalonian, I can't remember ever hearing anything like this."

The Great Northern grain elevator, the first and last of its kind, is still standing. It has just passed two significant anniversaries. February marked the 125th anniversary of the beginning of construction. More infamously, March 27 marked the 100th day since Buffalo’s commissioner for Permits and Inspection Services issued an emergency demolition order to destroy the iconic Buffalo landmark, fearful of an imminent “collapse” because a section of brick cladding on the building’s north side had fallen on Dec. 11.

The Great Northern won’t be collapsing anytime soon. Independent, informed and licensed engineers and architects would tell you that.

Here’s why: the innovative steel frame of Max Toltz, chief engineer of the Great Northern Railway – the first railroad to cross the Continental Divide through the Cascade Mountains. Giant steel cylindrical grain bins are riveted together and to the frame to create a single solid mass of steel anchored to bedrock.

Those thousands of tons of steel had to be isolated from the brick envelope, allowing them to expand and contract. Toltz’s solution was ingenious. The brick wall, several feet thick, with its own foundation, merely keeps the weather out and bins shaded. Everything else is supported by the steel frame. From the ground, it looks like the roof rests on the walls, just as at your house. It doesn’t. The cupola doesn’t touch the brick walls, either. On the inside, the last 20 feet of either end of the cupola is hung so no steel touches brick.

The form of the Great Northern was, and is, tried and true. Another railroad had established that 20 years earlier, with a wood-framed, wooden-binned behemoth in New York Harbor. Its brick walls were of the classic pier-and-panel design that could be seen on medieval churches and storehouses. The trick was to replace the wood with stronger, non-combustible steel, without the steel heaving against the brick enclosure. Toltz did that well.

The design of the Great Northern is robust and time-tested. Lack of proper maintenance is the problem. For example, lead flashing that capped the walls was allowed to deteriorate and go missing entirely. This resulted in unchecked water infiltration for decades, with bushes growing out of the north wall where it failed in December.

The Great Northern should have been fixed long ago, the owner held to account and directed by a city agency that knew what it was doing. The Campaign for Greater Buffalo is fighting the emergency demolition order, and that is its argument. An appeals court in Rochester will decide beginning Wednesday whether that argument has merit and whether the Great Northern ought to reign another 125 years as the Waterfront Queen of the City.

Paul McDonnell is president of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture and president elect of the American Institute of Architects, New York State.

A friendly exchange between the preservationist Tim Tielman and James Comerford, Buffalo’s former commissioner of permits and inspections, was very telling. One day in December, Comerford’s last month before retirement, Tielman says that Comerford told him he had been “a worthy adversary.”

That the office charged with overseeing development and maintenance of private property in the city would consider a preservationist an adversary rather than an ally did not set a helpful tone when it comes to maintaining the historic structures that enhance the quality of life in our region.

The case of the Great Northern grain elevator and the fight to save it from the wrecking ball have focused attention on the need for new thinking on how to strike a balance between preservation when appropriate and the city’s right to order demolition of dangerous properties that are not worth saving.

Recent stories in The News highlighted some new approaches, including the use of receivership to repair historic structures. Remarks by the city’s new permit and inspection commissioner, Cathy Amdur, provide hope that a spirit of collaboration can replace the adversarial model of the past.

The fate of the Great Northern is still unknown. The building’s owner, ADM Milling Co., applied for an emergency demolition permit after a windstorm in December damaged the structure, causing its partial collapse. The city granted a permit approving the demolition but preservationists filed suit to block it and the case is still pending. Coincidentally, the building is still standing.

Others have offered to buy the property from ADM Milling, including the developer Douglas Jemal. The company has refused, citing safety concerns. ADM would prefer to demolish the structure that is adjacent to an active ADM flour mill.

The Great Northern was not inspected for 23 years, after ADM bought the building in 1993, three years after the Common Council declared it a local landmark. ADM sought to demolish the grain elevator in 1996 and again in 2003.

In response to the Great Northern controversy, the Buffalo Common Council in February passed an ordinance requiring that the city’s local landmarks be inspected once every three years. The purpose is to head off cases of demolition by neglect, the term used to describe ADM’s handling of the Great Northern. However, some preservationists told The News’ Mark Sommer they worry about what will happen when inspections finding buildings in disrepair are turned over to the city.

“The preservation community is generally reluctant to contact Permits and Inspections because it can take the building out of the process with the city and throw it into Housing Court, and then all bets are off,” said Gwen Howard, chair of the Buffalo Preservation Board. “Oftentimes, the result is expediting the demolition of the building rather than moving to preserve it.”

Jessie Fisher, Preservation Buffalo Niagara’s executive director, said the ordinance could prove harmful unless the city has policies to keep landmarks standing.

“There is still no plan for what happens if a property gets a bad inspection,” Fisher said. “Too often, that either results in demolition or the threat of demolition.”

One promising approach is the use of Buffalo’s receivership law, which allows a court to appoint a receiver to make needed repairs to a neglected property. The arrangement also requires that the party making repairs be reimbursed for the costs.

Receivership won’t fix every problem with neglected landmark properties. The prohibitive costs of fixing very large properties may make it impractical in those cases.

It could be ineffective if owners refuse to cooperate and maintain their properties after the receiver makes repairs.

However, receivership can be put to good use for some properties, such as one on Cottage Street in Allentown for which Preservation Buffalo Niagara was appointed the receiver. Preservation Buffalo Niagara also maintains a revolving loan fund that can help finance preservation projects in the city whose owners lack the financial means.

Both Housing Court Judge Patrick M. Carney and the city commissioner Amdur have praised the potential of receivership for landmark properties.

“To have a program dedicated to those houses and those buildings is a tremendous tool for us, and one we plan to use more in the future,” Carney said.

Amdur pointed out that receivership won’t be useful in all cases, but in instances where it does work, “there is a possibility we would look to repeat again.”

Receivership in the city happens under the Safe Buffalo Housing Court Act, a state law passed in the 1970s. State Sen. Sean Ryan has been working on legislation to allow every municipality in the state to use the same tool.

In the meantime, preserving the best of Buffalo’s landmarks benefits our entire region. The character of the city’s architecture, and the neighborhoods tinged with history, are among the top features that attract new residents to Buffalo Niagara. Not every property merits saving just because it’s old, but we cannot afford to have bulldozers tearing down any structure whose owner finds it inconvenient to maintain.

The News’ story on receivership highlighted ways that the Cleveland Restoration Society has forged a close relationship with the city’s Department of Building and Housing. The organization reviews department-issued lists of properties slated for demolition.

If Buffalo can’t achieve the same type of partnership, we should at least move closer to a model of cooperation rather than antagonism. Such a shift in attitude is one example of the new thinking needed to improve the process of maintaining Buffalo’s historic character.

• • •

What’s your opinion? Send it to us at [email protected]. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

The evidence opposing demolition of the Great Northern Grain Elevator appears overwhelming, based on last week’s court hearing. The evidence supporting its destruction, meanwhile, seems little more than conjectural. The question should be how to repair this historic structure and what to do with it next.

The proceeding took place in State Supreme Court in Buffalo, after an appellate court reversed a previous decision by Judge Emilio Colaiacovo to allow demolition of the storm-damaged building. The higher court said Colaiacovo erred in refusing to hear testimony from a preservation group, whose leader finally testified at last week’s hearing.

For the record: The building stubbornly continues to stand, despite the emergency demolition order issued by then-commissioner of permits and inspections, James Comerford. Half a year after the December windstorm, it’s still not falling to pieces.

The reasons for that had been made public before but now, based on the hearing conducted Thursday and Friday, they’re part of the official court record. This building is different from most structures. Paul McDonnell, chairman of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, History & Architecture explained it on Thursday.

While the storm tore a hole in the elevator’s brick exterior, that wall’s purpose is more protective than supportive. Basically, McDonnell said, the brick is cladding that covers the steel bins inside and functions as a “brick curtain wall.”

“Everything else in the structure, including the cupola on top, which is hung so no steel touches the brick, is supported by the steel frame.” Before issuing the demolition order, McDonnell said, Comerford failed to consult original architectural drawings in his office, or review the grain elevator’s local landmark application or a federal study from 1990 available online.

”This was a failure of the commissioner looking at the structural documents and seeing how it was actually built. I do not think he had enough information to make that conclusion, and some of the information he cites is erroneous,” McDonnell said.

It was, in that compelling view, a poorly informed decision that coincidentally complied with the long-standing wishes of Archer Daniels Midland Co., the building’s owner, to do away with it.

In addition, pushing back on other concerns about the building’s safety, McDonnell testified that:

• There was no significant bowing, movement or cracking in the walls.

• There was no reason to believe the mortar in the brick walls was seriously eroded.

• The building is not a fire hazard.

The only witness for the city and ADM was Fire Commissioner William Renaldo, who said he had “grave concerns” about the building’s integrity after meeting with Comerford and examining drone footage. He said he was concerned that, if the building collapsed, it could threaten firefighting capacities on Ganson Street and endanger the Edward Cotter fireboat and other ships.

The problem is that the evidence shows no reason to fear the building’s collapse. And, as McDonnell’s testimony showed, it was unwise to rely on Comerford’s evaluation of the risk.

The hearing is due to conclude this week, though a date for a ruling is uncertain. But if the building’s durability is the question, its demolition is unthinkable.

• • •

What’s your opinion? Send it to us at [email protected]. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

Legislation requiring local landmarks in Buffalo to be inspected every three years is expected to pass Tuesday in the Common Council with the support of the Brown administration.

Delaware Council Member Joel Feroleto proposed the legislation after learning the embattled Great Northern grain elevator had never been inspected by the Department of Permit and Inspection Services since owner Archer Daniels Midland purchased the structure in 1993, three years after it was landmarked.

Uncertainty looms among several of the 134 structures in the city – theaters, industrial buildings, houses, neighborhood bars and schools – that have local historic status.

"We hear the term 'demolition by neglect,' and no landmark should ever be demolished by neglect," Feroleto said. "This will ensure that if a landmark is being neglected, an inspector could write it up and begin the process of requiring repairs."

The lack of scheduled inspections of properties designated to be of special importance to the city has contributed to their decline, Feroleto said.

"We will now have a building inspector at properties every three years, so there will never be an instance where a local landmark will go decades without going inspected," Feroleto said.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

Cathy Amdur, deputy commissioner for permits and inspections, said the city is on board with the new requirements.

"The department and the administration is in full support of this legislation," Amdur said.

She said the department is putting inspections of local landmarks "into motion" and has enough staff to do what's required.

The department's use of a drone will help facilitate the evaluation of roofs, upper portions of exterior walls and other areas that are hard to gain access to, she said.

The legislation will make a big difference in protecting the city's local landmarks, said Gwen Howard, chair of the Buffalo Preservation Board.

"It has always been every property owner's responsibility to maintain their property, regardless of their preservation status," Howard said. "But this will help protect those buildings that our community has identified as our most important."

Feroleto said the new law should help avoid emergency demolition situations like what has happened with the Great Northern.

"If you have a landmark that an inspector writes up, it ensures there will be communication between the property owner and the department before we have an emergency situation," Feroleto said.

The new law would apply to 134 local landmarks. That breaks down to about 45 additional inspections a year for the Department of Permit and Inspection Services.

Local landmark designations are not a panacea in saving buildings. Since 1977, 14 of them, including some already rundown when landmarked, have been demolished.

North Council Member Joseph Golombek, a cosponsor of the bill, said, "It's a good piece of legislation."

"The demolition by neglect has absolutely been a problem," Golombek said. "Between that and the new technology such as drones, I think it's very doable."

Fillmore Council Member Mitchell Nowakowski supports the change as a "proactive" measure to safeguard local landmarks.

"Hopefully, routine inspections will encourage property owners of landmarked buildings to address existing issues proactively before they escalate in severity," Nowakowski said.

Does Buffalo really want to be known as demolition city? Sixty-two years ago the city demolished the one-of-a-kind Larkin Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and replaced it with a parking lot. We are still mourning that loss. Now Archer Daniels Midland wants to demolish the one-of-a-kind Great Northern elevator.

What were they thinking in 1950? What are we thinking now? Please don’t repeat this colossal mistake. Save the Great Northern elevator.

Richard Swank

Eden

It’s still standing. What do you know?

The Great Northern Grain Elevator on Buffalo’s waterfront – the one that was so severely damaged by a windstorm two months ago that both its owner and the City of Buffalo rushed to demolish it – it’s doing OK.

There have been no reports of bricks bouncing off some unlucky noggin or even falling harmlessly to the ground, for that matter. Maybe that will change, but the building’s resilience suggests that this “crisis” is one less of urgency than expediency and insufficiency.

Archer Daniels Midland, owner of the unique and historic structure, has long wanted to raze it and seems to view the December storm as a useful pretext. Several expert observers, including respected developers, say the building is sturdy and can be easily repaired.

The culture at City Hall, meanwhile, verges on indifference to the fate of this building, even though historic preservation has been a key component of Buffalo’s economic revival. It’s neither possible nor desirable to save every old building, but it’s also troubling to see so little passion for structures that help to define Buffalo.

Mayor Byron W. Brown seems content to ignore the rising demands to use the law – if belatedly – to force ADM to make the repairs that should have been done long ago. He wants the building to stay standing, he says, but insists that, by virtue of the city charter, he is basically a bystander to the decision of James Comerford, the city’s commissioner of permits and inspections. To do otherwise, he says, would be to politicize the issue, and possibly to risk injuries and liability.

Still, it’s hard not to see a repeat of the mistake Brown made with the city’s much-hated “red light cameras.” He stuck with that program to the lip of his political grave, ignoring the opposition within the community and on the Common Council.

The argument over the grain elevator is even splitting Democrats, with State Sen. Sean Ryan of Buffalo organizing opposition and directly criticizing Brown’s administration which, he complained “doesn’t even know historic preservation is a thing.” Ryan supported Democratic challenger India Walton in last year’s mayoral election.

In a recent meeting with The News editorial board, Ryan observed that municipal benefits such as the state’s historic tax credit could vanish if the city fails to use them on projects as obvious as this one. Buffalo wouldn’t have come as far as it has without that program, which has helped underwrite projects that would otherwise have been unaffordable.

What is more, said preservation leader Tim Tielman, the city isn’t exercising its ability to rescind the demolition order – it claims, unpersuasively, that it can’t – or even enforcing its own laws. For one thing, he said, a city homeowner who violated codes would have been forced to comply, if only to protect nearby properties.

Yet, for years, ADM has been allowed to skip needed repairs on this historic grain elevator. Why wasn’t the city worried about falling bricks or other hazards then?

Indeed, part of the problem is the structure’s condition, which ADM and the city have allowed to deteriorate. For some, it’s hard to picture this unkept and imposing edifice as a refurbished symbol of a shining new city, proud of its Great Lakes heritage. But it can be done.

Interested groups have suggested new uses for the building and developer Douglas Jemal has offered to buy it from ADM, which shows not the least bit of interest. OK, fine. But then stop pretending this is an emergency. Fix the building. More than that, make it beautiful. Show some respect for the public interest and the city that helps to support you.

ADM may not care much about what Buffalo thinks of its conduct, but the mayor does and he’s choosing the wrong side.

A previous version of this editorial misidentifed State Sen. Sean Ryan's position.

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Many Buffalonians understand the historic significance – international, national and local – of the Great Northern Grain Elevator, one of the oldest, as well as part of the most important collection of, grain elevators in this country. Obviously, the building and site should be made safe. However, that can be done without the building being torn down.

As citizens of this community, are you aware of the factual errors contained in the six-page engineering report Archer Daniels Midland supplied to the city, a report used as the basis for an emergency demolition order? For example: “The structure that partially collapsed supported a 30-foot-high metal cupola, that is now suspended and only partially supported…” This statement is false. The collapsed wall serves as a weather protective shell – nothing more. This wall does not support the cupola; it is simply a curtain wall intended to hide the steel bins. The steel bins and cupola are independent structures; they do not rely on the wall for support.

Please consider if it is wise for the city to issue an emergency demolition order based on one engineering report, especially one commissioned by ADM. After all, ADM has a history of wanting to see this building demolished. Let’s not destroy a landmarked building that is structurally sound because of insufficient knowledge or misrepresented information. Once demolished, this architectural treasure would be gone forever. And, that would be a loss for Buffalo’s citizens today – and tomorrow.

Beth Tauke

Buffalo

Is Buffalo’s only choice, with respect to the damaged Great Northern grain elevator, between razing or restoration? There are strong arguments for both cases, but might there be a middle course that would be more of a benefit for the city and region going forward?

Either option will have a lasting impact upon social and environmental life in Erie County and the perception of the community’s ability to make creative and enlightened decisions about its future just as it is going through a period of renewal.

Built in 1897, the structure was as significant for Buffalo as the Statue of Liberty (1886) for New York harbor.

It would be a mistake to completely level the Great Northern edifice, material and symbolic representation of our past industrial power and contribution to Modernist design, a failure of vision as great as the leveling of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Larkin Building.

The best of our town should be preserved for economic, historical and aesthetic reasons, but not at the sacrifice of a more life-enhancing future. The complete restoration of one structure will not build that future.

I suggest a compromise that might satisfy both sides and add more to the life of its citizens than raze or restore. This compromise would be something like Seattle’s decision in the early 1970s to transform the rusting Gas Light gasification plant into the 19.1-acre Gas Works Park, now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Significant structural elements of the former gas-industry plant have been preserved and transformed into useful and creative spaces through imaginative design and an understanding of how much play space, creative space, green space and aesthetic space can add to the life of a city.

Imagine a multi-dimensional reclamation of brownfields, industrial relics, shuttered and pock-marked buildings into a multi-purpose park extending from the again magical carousel to the wind turbines south of the city.

Howard R. Wolf

Amherst

I was disappointed to read the recent Another Voice column in The News written by Tedd Kruse, the president of ADM’s Milling Division, about the Great Northern grain elevator and why it must be immediately demolished.

What Kruse described in his letter is something our region has seen far too much of in the past regarding historically significant structures, which is demolition by neglect.

Demolition by neglect occurs when a property owner abstains from being a responsible owner, refuses to undertake preventative maintenance or reasonable improvements for years and even decades and then makes the case that the building is “too far gone” and a danger to public health. This is the definition of what Archer Daniels Midland has done through its irresponsible ownership of the Great Northern over three decades.

To emphasize his point that the Great Northern is too far gone, Kruse cited a piece of steel sheeting on the roof that recently fell, potentially injuring an employee. I am sure that is true, but not as a result of the wind event that recently damaged the structure, but a consequence of ADM’s refusal to maintain that steel roof sheeting over the last 30 years.

Unfortunately for ADM, our region no longer just blindly accepts “demolition by neglect.” We have a newfound ethos of pride for our region and our rich history – that includes the Great Northern. The community will not passively watch as this structure is pulverized into a parking lot. When ADM purchased the Great Northern it had an obligation to properly maintain it, which it did not. It is time the company fulfills its obligation to treat the Great Northern and our region with the respect they deserve.

The Great Northern is the last remaining brick-enclosed grain elevator in the entire world and it resides here in Buffalo. It was the precursor to the concrete elevators ubiquitous in the grain trade.

This innovation was the catalyst to the rise of our region to become the powerhouse of transport of agricultural goods throughout the country and the world. This is a story that should be told and shown to future generations, which is why the preservation of the Great Northern is so important.

In lieu of court battles and long-term community animosity, I urge ADM to pivot. Work in partnership with the community to seize this crisis moment to give the Great Northern purpose for another 125 years – as a living legacy of our region’s rich heritage and our unique role in building up our great nation.

The preservation community and private developers want to be true partners in this effort and significant federal and state tax credits are available to offset costs. Now is the time – I urge ADM to accept the community’s offer.

Cities and their people are constantly learning how to constitute and maintain their places.

Buffalo, Queen City of the Lakes, was one of the shining cities of the early and mid-Industrial Revolution. The Erie Canal took advantage of location and positioned us as a major transshipment center. Industry, factories and grain elevators claimed the waterfront.

In the name of progress we filled in the great wetland on Lake Erie to build a port. We were a booming metropolis, contributing steel and bread to the war efforts, bringing great wealth and steady jobs. Yet industry left and jobs disappeared; Buffalo fell into a deep depression that lasted decades.

Progress and “creative capitalism” abandoned people and community, and left contamination and destruction. We lost not only hope during those difficult years, but also fabric. We demolished Wright’s Larkin building. We almost lost the old Post Office, now Erie Community College, and could have lost the Richardson Psychiatric Center, now repurposed although still in need of our support.

We saved a fragment of the Lake Erie coast wetland by creating Tifft Nature Preserve and began restoring Olmsted parks. Critically, the city lost so much fabric, particularly on the East Side, because of the great suburban migration that also appropriated acres of farmland and woods outside the city.

We learned. Diverse and energized civic movements formed in Buffalo and elsewhere to counter the sensibility that it is right to demolish and destroy the fabric of place. Save the historic buildings! Save the parks! Save the river!

These years saw early manifestations of the Olmsted Parks Conservancy, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper, Preservation Buffalo Niagara, Campaign for Greater Buffalo, and Times Beach Nature Preserve.

As if speaking for these movements, the poet Adrienne Rich writes: My heart is moved by all I cannot save: so much has been destroyed / I have to cast my lot with those/who age after age, perversely, / with no extraordinary power/reconstitute the world.

It seemed as if Buffalo had come to understand the economic and narrative power of being a city that conserves its architecture and historic fabric, a city that cleans up its contaminated rivers and rebuilds its ecology. Apparently not. If we had, we wouldn’t have issued a permit to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator based on a biased report by its owner, ADM, which wants to build a parking lot even though the damage from a storm is cosmetic.

We wouldn’t have permitted Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. to bulldoze a regenerating habitat of 70-year-old trees on our Lake Erie coast to build an amphitheater, instead of building the ecological resilience of the coastline in a time of severe storms, climate change and a crisis of species extinction. Sadly, these actions do not reflect lessons learned and will hurt us as a city.

New schematic models created by a Buffalo preservation group show the Great Northern grain elevator that’s slated for demolition is structurally sound and in no danger of collapsing.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture relied on historical documents and drone photographs and video of the grain elevator to develop the design drawings, which are part of a package of materials it will present on Monday in its argument for a state Appellate Division preliminary injunction to forestall the demolition.

Schematic models created by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture show the Great Northern grain elevator that’s slated for demolition is structurally sound and in no danger of collapsing, according to the Buffalo preservation group.

“It is solid. It is better built than City Hall. It’s probably more rigorously put together, with higher quality and certainly greater-dimensioned steel, than some of our larger buildings of the '20s through the '70s,” said Tim Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture. “I mean, it’s Titanic. The other innovative thing about it that we hope the drawings convey is that the steel bins themselves are part and parcel of the structure of this elevator. Everything is riveted and bolted together. It’s one solid mass.”

Exterior bricks that collapsed to the ground on the north wall of the grain elevator following a Dec. 11 windstorm are simply cladding with their own separate foundation that’s not tied to the main structure, Tielman said.

James Comerford, Buffalo’s commissioner of permits and inspections, cited safety concerns in issuing an emergency demolition order to Archer Daniels Midland, the corporation that owns the structure that was designated as a historic landmark by the city in 1990.

Supporters of the Great Northern grain elevator who rallied Thursday at City Hall cast doubt on an engineering report by Archer Daniels Midland justifying the demolition of the locally designated historic structure.

Preservationists won a temporary restraining order Jan. 14 to prevent ADM from immediately tearing the structure down. The group is seeking a preliminary injunction in the State Appellate Division for longer term protection of the landmark at 250 Ganson St., south of Michigan Avenue, along the City Ship Canal.

At a State Supreme Court hearing Jan. 3, Comerford said drone footage of the grain elevator showed evidence of corrugated metal flapping on the cupola and bowing on the river side of the building. ADM, which bought the building in 1993 and has sought to demolish it on three previous occasions, also presented an engineering report indicating that the vacant structure posed a safety hazard to workers at its flour mill next door.

Preservationists said the engineering report is inaccurate, and the building does not pose a safety risk.

Tielman and architect Paul McDonnell, a former chairman of the Buffalo Preservation Board, relied on photographs of the grain elevator under construction and historical diagrams of the six principal types of support columns in developing the CAD schematic.

The model shows 20 pairs of central columns supporting a network of five-foot steel I-beam rafters and, in combination with 6,000 pilings into the bedrock, the columns are able to absorb massive amounts of weight and wind loads.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

“The brick jacket that’s on there, OK, it has a hole in it. Fix it,” Tielman said. “It doesn’t affect the structure one iota.”

The structure was the largest grain elevator in the world when it was built in 1897. It is the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America and the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls. Preservationists say demolishing the Great Northern would be possibly the most significant architectural loss in Buffalo in decades.

A Jan. 16 letter writer shared his perspective last week with writing “Celebrate the grain elevator by thinking outside the box,” … “fill in the missing section with glass block, lit from the inside and do something dramatic, historic and respectful of our great history, and preserve this structure.”

I agree.

Instead of tearing down the grain elevator, use this as an opportunity to make it pop. Turn heads by doing the homework, using creativity and resourcefulness. Use this gem to hang on to its cultured piece of history.

In the 60s and 70s, Lockport’s urban renewal bulldozed historical, vintage buildings that were beautifully lined along Main Street. As a kid, I remember how almost magical it was to see. Now I think back and shake my head in disbelief to what used to be. Why? This piece of Lockport’s history, along the Erie Canal, is gone.

I vote to save and preserve the grain elevator, save the history and save the pride.

If not, when it’s gone, it’s gone.

Leslie Riddle

Lockport

Since when does a so-called “citizens group” have the right to interfere with the owner of a building concerning what they wish to do with their property? Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) owns the Great Northern grain elevator and should be able to do as they please with it, that is, repair it, sell it or tear it down. The city issued a permit to raze the building, therefore providing the owner with one of the options. Keep hands off private ownership.

Ronald W. Pokorski

Lancaster

The gaping hole in the Great Northern elevator exposed much more than its interior steel bins. It exposed how Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) made little if any attempt to secure, preserve and protect this designated local landmark. They requested a number of demolition permits since acquiring the property and an emergency demo permit, in December, when Mother Nature exposed what deplorable stewards they have been for more than two decades.

The windstorm also exposed the continued ignorance of the Brown administration’s policy of “ask and you shall receive” when it comes to issuing demolition permits. This latest one comes less than two years after the mayor’s office issued a permit to Sinatra and Company for the demolition of the historic Flemish Revival house at 184 West Utica St. Apparently, this administration has not yet realized that these historic properties are part of every Western New Yorker’s heritage and that big companies, overzealous developers, and a solitary judge, lacking preservation experience, should not be the ones controlling Western New York’s built environment. While their contributions may influence City Hall, the outcry of the people living in this area should not be ignored – particularly when there are proposed reuse plans and perspective interested buyers.

As such, Tim Tielman and company, Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN), other nonprofit organizations and concerned citizens who made an effort to preserve this historically unique grain elevator should be commended. ADM should not want to forever be remembered as the company who demolished the oldest, historic grain elevator in North America and the Brown administration as the entity for facilitating this travesty

This does not bode well for the future. We have four more years of this same mentality to contend with. Now is the time to plan for future baseless demolition permits that are sure to follow. Now would also be a good time to ensure that every demo permit have a rescind clause as an addendum.

Marla Bujnicki

Buffalo

Since acquiring the flour mill on Ganson Street in 1992, Archer Daniels Midland has been a proud member of the Buffalo community. Our 90 colleagues work hard every day to produce flour for customers here in Buffalo and throughout the nation, and the mill continues to be an important contributor to the local and regional economy.

The Great Northern grain elevator is literally right next door, only a few feet from the mill. By the time we took ownership in 1992, the elevator was no longer in use and was already being considered for demolition by its former owners due to concerns around safety and the inability to make critical repairs.

ADM shared those concerns and has continually voiced them over the last 30 years. On Dec. 11, those concerns were realized when high winds caused the north wall to collapse. Upon evaluation of the significant damage and the remainder of the compromised structure, independent engineers and the city determined that the only path forward to protect nearby employees and the community was to dismantle the elevator.

We appreciate the passionate discussions around preservation that have ensued since the city’s determination was challenged in court. We are also committed to finding ways to preserve the legacy of the structure – a legacy that honors Buffalo’s milling history, which has included ADM for the past 30 years.

But because a significant wind event can come at any time, another major collapse can also come at any time. There are very real safety concerns that grow with each passing day.

The structure was built 125 years ago with engineering techniques that are now outdated. The walls are made up of 6 million bricks with degraded mortar that is no longer holding them together. Many bricks are hanging loose from the recent collapse, and we are prevented from removing them.

The foundation of the structure is made up of 6,000 untreated wood pilings that have likely deteriorated over time. Large pieces of steel sheeting on the roof are now loose, between 100 and 166 feet above the ground. On Dec. 22, one of these pieces fell, narrowly avoiding seriously injuring an ADM employee.

The list goes on and on.

We want to find ways to honor the legacy of the Great Northern elevator, but we must first and foremost protect the people who keep the history of the milling industry in Buffalo alive today, including the colleagues who continue to work at ADM’s mill each day. Safety must remain everyone’s top priority throughout this process.

The only solution that can truly guarantee safety is to dismantle the elevator, and we need to be allowed to take the immediate actions deemed necessary by independent engineers and the city to protect our employees, our neighbors and the public.

Supporters of the Great Northern grain elevator who rallied Thursday at City Hall, mostly faculty and students from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, cast doubt on an engineering report by Archer Daniels Midland justifying the demolition of the locally designated historic structure.

They called for an independent evaluation of the structure's condition before the company moves to demolish it.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

"Most of what is documented in that report were pre-existing problems before the December storm," said Greg Delaney, UB clinical assistant professor of architecture. "None of this outlines any sense of emergency any more than it did the day before the December storm.

"All of those documented conditions of the building, that of course need to be addressed, are really ADM self-proclaiming their own negligence over the last three decades of this building."

A Dec. 11 windstorm ripped a large hole in the north wall of the Great Northern, the last brick-enclosed steel structure elevator in North America.

The order freezes an emergency demolition order issued by the City of Buffalo six days after a Dec. 11 windstorm created a large hole in the structure's north wall.

James Comerford, Buffalo's commissioner of permits and inspections, issued an emergency demolition order six days later, citing safety concerns.

ADM, which had attempted to demolish the structure on three previous occasions, wants it torn down.

Delaney cited several claims in the report that he said were inaccurate and failed to understand the 1897 Great Northern's design.

"ADM falsely stated, plainly, that the structure that partially collapsed supported a 30-foot-high metal cupola that is now suspended and only partially supported, as is apparent in photographs of its present condition," Delaney said.

"This is absolutely untrue, as the roof and head house of the building are entirely structured with a steel frame internal to the building, none of which appears to have been damaged in December," he added "The fact of the matter remains the building poses no clear or present danger than it did before the December storm."

In his first public comments on the Great Northern since a Jan. 5 State Supreme Court ruling clearing the way for its demolition, Brown told The News the city's reason for not yet releasing an emergency demolition permit to ADM has been merely procedural.

Delaney said pieces of corrugated steel torn off from the head house and marine towers – cited by ADM as an imminent danger – can be corrected without demolition.

Beth Tauke, a UB associate professor of architecture, said the demolition of the Great Northern would constitute an incalculable loss.

"Buffalo is the city where the grain elevator was invented, and the Great Northern is the oldest existing grain elevator that we have," Tauke said.

Signs held up by those standing on the City Hall steps included "Future UNESCO World Heritage Site," "A Buffalo icon" and "Don't Take it Down."

Delaney said an independent panel of engineers is needed to provide credibility to the decision-making process.

"I want to save the Great Northern, and I won't let ADM bully this city around," Jemal said.

"The bottom line is as long as the building is still standing, there is a path forward toward its preservation," he said.

Those at the rally also called for the Common Council to enact a 60-day demolition moratorium pending review by independent experts.

Delaney said the city reversed an emergency demolition permit in 2008, after it was challenged and the neighborhood rallied behind the former White's Livery and Boarding Stables at 428 Jersey St. The city eventually supported the structure's stabilization that led to a new life as White's Livery Apartments.

But Council President Darius Pridgen said Corporation Counsel informed him that the city charter only allows a moratorium on a building demolition by the commissioner of permits and inspections.

Pridgen said that because a judge in State Supreme Court ruled on the case and an appeal is pending before the Appellate Division, a moratorium can not be issued.

We as a community have got to protect and preserve the Great Northern elevator. It may not be what some think of as handsome, but its value lies not in its beauty but in its majesty. The Great Northern is a structure that represents an important part of our history, who we were as a people, how we worked and what and how we built. It is part of the skeletal system of our city, the heart and soul of our historical identity as a community.

The Great Northern needs to be preserved, not developed. Let’s treat it the way European countries do their ancient artifacts, the bridges, aqueducts, etc., that dot their landscapes. Imagine the Great Northern as a vast canvas, a changing “outdoor museum” of public art, a dramatic backdrop for dazzling light shows. By preserving this monument to our past and transforming it through the power of public art, we will create out of our past a new destination that will bring pleasure and pride not only to generations of Buffalonians but to the growing number of people who, increasingly aware of our unique architectural legacy, will continue to make Buffalo a destination.

Mark Goldman

Buffalo

Why do we cherish and preserve our political monuments, like the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, or our domestic monuments, like the Darwin Martin House, but fail to recognize the value of our technological monuments, like the Great Northern grain elevator?

Grain built Buffalo. Innovation in grain storage, like the Joseph Dart Steam Grain Elevator, helped to make Buffalo the largest grain port in the world. Elevators saved the backs of Irishmen and reduced grain unloading times from days to a matter of hours. This kind of invention is what has characterized American ingenuity since the country’s founding and continues to place our country at the forefront of the world’s technological advancement.

Celebrating Buffalo’s grain history is one way to instill pride in our citizenry as participants in our nation’s unique capacity for innovation. Why would we allow this last remaining classic structure, with so much local history embedded in it, to be destroyed?

A few facts that we all should know and celebrate: When it opened in 1897, the Great Northern was the largest grain elevator in the world. Its mill was one of the first to run on electricity thanks to Buffalo’s link to electric power generation in Niagara Falls. It was designed by a bridge engineer with the Great Northern Railroad and is the last remaining example of the “brick box” design.

The brick exterior performs no structural function; the building is held up by a steel framework that supports the 48 steel silos within that housed the grain. There have been attempts even before Archer Daniels Midland’s ownership to raze the building because it is no longer commercially useful, not because it is structurally compromised. Its value lies in the history it preserves; hence its designation as a historical landmark when the then owner, Pillsbury, tried to tear it down in the late 1980s.

It is time for those who believe in preserving Buffalo’s industrial history to protect this important piece of our heritage as a once major commercial metropolis. Blue-collar cities like Buffalo have a unique story to tell about wealth generation. How is it that a frontier town with a few thousand residents before the Erie Canal opened in 1825 became one of the wealthiest cities in the country by 1900? The role of the grain elevator is an important part of that story.

As Buffalo became a major trans-shipment point between the wheat fields of the West and the marketplace of New York City, industries grew up around grain processing and ship building that filled the coffers of Buffalo’s entrepreneurs. Preservation of the artifacts of our greatest era of industrial growth, like the restoration of the commercial slip and saving the Great Northern grain elevator, can help us to understand and remember that important American story.

At the beginning of Bruce Jackson’s book, “American Chartres: Buffalo’s Waterfront Elevators,” there is a quote from French poet Dominique Fourcade who, upon seeing the huge grain elevators during his visit to Buffalo, exclaimed “The American Chartres!” Jackson refers to these structures as visual proof of Buffalo’s central place in American and international commerce, and goes on to write, “They are all a vital part of Buffalo’s urban landscape, as much a part of the city’s architectural heritage as the famous buildings by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, H.H. Richardson, Eliel and Eero Saarinen and the park system designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux.

Jackson states that he began photographing the elevators still standing in 2009 and 2010 and asks, “Who knows when their turn will come to meet the wrecking plate?”

I agree with Jackson’s sentiments and so much appreciate the wonderful images he has provided in his book. These historical structures are truly breath-taking and visually inspiring.

Please, save the Great Northern.

Babrara Nowak

Tonawanda

Once again Buffalo is about to let a priceless museum piece fall to the wrecking ball.

Why don’t we give a free hand to the preservationists, developers and union leaders who want to make it a monument to Buffalo’s heritage?

It worked on Chippewa Street; it worked at the Darwin Martin House. Canalside deserves this amazing addition to its portfolio. I think even Archer Daniels Midland would benefit from this attraction in ways we can’t predict yet.

I have an idea: After shoring up the remaining three brick walls by gluing reinforcing panels on the inside, followed by steel frame bracing, let’s fill in the missing section with glass block.

Lit from the inside, with the bins polished and gleaming, this would be a fantastic sight from across the street at the Buffalo RiverWorks, from the Cobblestone District, and from the Skyway (if we see fit to keep that in some form).

Let’s do something dramatic, historic and respectful of our great history, and preserve this structure.

David Kunkel

Buffalo

Stung by the looming loss of another historic structure, preservationists and others hope the Great Northern grain elevator saga will be a catalyst for systemic change to protect other local landmarks if they become threatened by demolition.

A measure to be introduced in the Common Council calls for scheduled building inspections of all 144 local landmarks.

"The single most important change" that preservationist Tim Tielman said he would like to see is a new name for the City Hall department that handles demolition requests. It should be called the Department of Permit, Inspection and Community Preservation Services, he said.

"The commissioner is getting advice on how to tear things down," said Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, which filed a lawsuit to stop the Great Northern's demolition. "He or she should be required to get advice on how to keep buildings standing."

James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permits and inspections, said he has taken steps to stave off demolition in past emergency situations. But Comerford said preservation concerns are not part of his decision-making process when an emergency arises.

Great Northern grain elevator, built in 1897, was damaged in recent wind storm, two excavators and a Bobcat were moved on site Saturday for emergency demolition, The grain elevator, in Buffalo, on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, developer Douglas Jemal called for the demolition to be stopped and offered to buy the building from Chicago-based owner Archer Daniels Midland.

"We don't provide the solutions," said Comerford, who approved an emergency demolition permit to Archer Daniels Midland to tear down the Great Northern. "That's not my job. My responsibility is public safety."

Gwen Howard, president of the Buffalo Preservation Board and a certified New York State building code official and licensed architect, said other remedies should have been considered to save the property while protecting the public, including measures already employed on large masonry structures in the city.

"They could have removed the metal paneling, put a net around the masonry or fenced the property," Howard said.

Local landmarks are heavily promoted by the travel and tourism bureau and featured in films. They're among the first places residents take out-of-town friends and relatives to see. But not all are immune to emergency demolition permits.

"This is the only building of its type left in the world, and our answer is demolition?" developer Rocco Termini said of the Great Northern.

"If the Notre Dame Cathedral was in Buffalo, it would have been torn down, and there was no building more in danger of collapse than the Notre Dame Cathedral," Termini said.

Following a pattern

The Great Northern is a textbook example, preservationists say, of how a local landmark allowed to become rundown turns into a crisis leading to a city-issued emergency demolition order.

The last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America was acquired by ADM in 1993, three years after the Common Council proclaimed it a local landmark. Despite the designation, ADM, which owns the adjoining flour mill, sought its demolition three years later and again in 2003.

Engineering reports given to the city pinpointed problems the company thought were significant, yet the city's Permits and Inspections Services Department never directed them to make repairs.

Until the windstorm, the structure wasn't inspected or cited in 28 years.

"If they can write me up for my hedges or peeling paint, why can't they write up one of the largest brick buildings on the earth?" asked Howard.

The Great Northern – a hulking structure at 250 Ganson St. and visible from the Skyway – shows signs of deterioration with missing gutters and downspouts and water infiltration on the west wall.

Comerford said there wasn't a reason for it to be inspected.

"We never had one complaint on that building," he said. "If preservationists saw something, they should have reported it to us."

It's not known if the Great Northern's derelict condition contributed to the hole in the north wall from a Dec. 11 windstorm. But the scenario that played out afterward has become all-too-common in Buffalo.

Comerford issued an emergency demolition order to demolish the cavernous Great Northern without first considering preservation alternatives.

Preservationists then mobilized in a desperate, last-minute attempt to save the structure.

That this continues to happen in 2022 is a sad state of affairs, said Ed Healy, vice president of marketing at Visit Buffalo Niagara.

"The fact we are still having to fight these battles over such an important piece of our industrial heritage is really painful to contemplate," Healy said.

"I had hoped that after the National Preservation Conference in Buffalo in 2011, which was such a tremendous success, there would have been a greater respect, a greater regard and a greater understanding of what it means to have such a unique identity," he said.

"Sometimes I think people from elsewhere appreciate what we have more than we do," he said.

Nearly lost

Shea's Buffalo Theatre. The Darwin Martin House. The Guaranty Building. The Richardson Olmsted Complex. SUNY Erie's City Campus.

They and other structures were saved from the wrecking ball by preservationists.

The Richardson, which reopened with the Hotel Henry in 2017, "was a metaphor for Buffalo's own rebirth," said Healy, who noted national and even international press heralded the reopening.

"These are all things that have generated tremendous interest in Buffalo and millions and millions of dollars in positive publicity that have helped change our image in the greater world," Healy said.

But many other buildings have not been spared in the past 20 years: the Harbor Inn, St. Mary's on the Hill, Scottish Rite Cathedral and the H-O Oats and Wheeler grain elevators among them.

Mayor Byron Brown in December 2019 promised he would be "unyielding" toward commercial property owners after a Civil War-era building suffered a second structural collapse and an emergency demolition was ordered.

"I am telling everyone right now it will be a tough, tough plan that will put all kinds of pressure on problem property owners," the mayor said at the time.

But to preservationists, Brown's refusal to force ADM to make repairs to the Great Northern suggests little has changed.

Tielman said Comerford told him last month outside court that "you've been a worthy adversary." Tielman said there's something wrong with City Hall's culture when preservationists are seen that way.

Delaware Council Member Joel Feroleto plans to introduce legislation on Jan. 25 that would require each of the 144 local landmarks to be inspected every three years, an average of 48 inspections per year. He decided to introduce the measure after learning that the Great Northern was not inspected for so many years.

"We hear the term 'demolition by neglect,' and no landmark should ever be demolished by neglect," Feroleto said. "This will ensure that if a landmark is being neglected, an inspector could write it up and begin the process of requiring repairs.

"When this law goes into effect we will have a building inspector at properties every three years so there will never be an instance where a local landmark will go decades without going inspected."

Brown said he could support such a schedule if more resources were provided.

"All of this work requires bodies and resources, and the resources of the city are always stretched very thin," Brown said. "There is a cost and someone is going to have to pay for that."

Jessie Fisher, Preservation Buffalo Niagara's executive director, said the city doesn't have to wait for legislation to make the process better. She said section 337 of the city charter and the Buffalo Housing Court Act of 1974 give the city authority to protect local landmarks and the building stock in general.

"What we really need is a commitment from this administration that they want to start utilizing the powers they already have," Fisher said.

Howard said she believes the mayor recognizes the value that historic architecture brings to the city, and she hopes the city and the preservation community can learn from the Great Northern situation.

"We should never be seen as adversarial because we are on the same team, which is to protect the buildings of the City of Buffalo," Howard said. "I hope this is a wake-up call for everybody."

The Great Northern grain elevator won a reprieve from demolition Friday – at least for now.

Justice Tracey Bannister of the Appellate Division granted a temporary restraining order to the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture to prevent the structure's owner, Archer Daniels Midland, from tearing down the wind-damaged grain elevator.

"It's a tremendous victory in the road to saving the Great Northern," said Tim Tielman, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director. "We're fighting like tigers to ensure this building can have new life."

The next step for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo will be to get a preliminary injunction. The judge set a $100,000 bond for the appeal, for which developer Douglas Jemal has agreed to be guarantor.

The judge set Jan. 24 for the return date to argue for the preliminary injunction. If that's successful, the case will be heard before the Appellate Division's five-judge panel.

The order freezes an emergency demolition order issued by the City of Buffalo six days after a Dec. 11 windstorm created a large hole in the abandoned grain elevator's north wall.

A view of the Great Northern grain elevator damaged by Buffalo windstorm.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Jan. 5 upheld the decision by James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permits and inspections, to issue the emergency demolition out of concern for public safety, fearing the stability of the 1897 structure had weakened.

On Thursday, Comerford released the demolition permit to a contractor for ADM. Until Thursday, the permit had remained in the city's possession since Colaiacovo's ruling only because of an incomplete demolition application.

The 1897 structure is the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America and the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls. Preservationists say demolishing the Great Northern would be possibly the most significant architectural loss in Buffalo in decades.

Great Northern grain elevator, built in 1897, was damaged in recent wind storm, two excavators and a Bobcat were moved on site Saturday for emergency demolition, The grain elevator, in Buffalo, on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, developer Douglas Jemal called for the demolition to be stopped and offered to buy the building from Chicago-based owner Archer Daniels Midland.

Archer Daniels Midland on Thursday received the demolition permit it needs to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator.

Afterward, Justice Tracey Bannister of the Appellate Division held a hearing on a request from the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture for a temporary restraining order to prevent the demolition until further review. She's considering the request and made no immediate ruling.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo said it sought the restraining order as a bridge to its expected appeal in appellate court next week that could come as early as Monday.

Mayor Byron Brown's refusal to block the demolition comes amid calls from preservationists and others to save the hulking, wind-damaged structure.

A Jan. 5 State Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for its demolition. In his first public comments on the Great Northern since that ruling, Brown told The News the city's reason for having waited to release the demolition permit to ADM was merely procedural. The application for demolition had been incomplete, Brown said.

Presented with a completed application, the city was legally obligated to issue a demolition permit to ADM under the law and the Jan. 5 court decision, Brown said.

"The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up," State Sen. Sean Ryan said.

Brown said the city "worked strenuously" to convince ADM to "preserve the building," but was unsuccessful, even as his administration contends the building cannot be salvaged.

"I brought letters and other communications we have received to ADM, and stated my desire to see the structure preserved," Brown said. "I told them we would work with federal, state and local tax benefits, tax exemptions, historic tax credits, new market tax credits to find resources to help with the preservation and stabilization of the structure."

Developer Douglas Jemal on Wednesday offered to give ADM $100,000 to stabilize the property and to pay for the cost of an independent evaluation by structural engineers.

"I want to save the Great Northern, and I won't let ADM bully this city around," Jemal said.

Brown said Jemal's offer has nothing to do with the city.

"That is between Mr. Jemal and ADM," Brown said. "The city is not the owner of this property."

The abandoned grain elevator, designated a local historic structure, was damaged in a windstorm on Dec. 11. The storm left a large hole in the north wall. James Comerford, the city's commissioner of permit and inspection services, issued an emergency demolition order six days later, citing ADM engineering reports, as well as drone footage, exterior inspections and the opinion of the fire commissioner. Comerford determined the structure posed "an immediate threat to health, welfare and safety to the public."

In the Jan. 5 ruling, State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo said Comerford acted "rationally" and upheld the commissioner's decision.

The judge said narrow legal parameters prevented him from considering a submission from a consulting structural engineer who works with Jemal and other statements that cast doubt on the conclusions made by ADM-hired engineers.

In his ruling, Judge Emilio Colaiacovo found that James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, made a "rational" decision in ordering an emergency demolition after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the north wall.

The company, which acquired the Great Northern in 1993, three years after it was locally landmarked, sought to demolish the structure in 1996 and 2003. Comerford said the company also approached him informally a year or two ago seeking an emergency demolition that he turned down.

Brown was under public pressure to rescind the demolition permit or slow down the process to allow for an independent evaluation of the Great Northern. The 1897 structure is the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America and the first grain elevator in the world, along with the Electric Elevator, to harness electricity from Niagara Falls. Preservationists say demolishing the Great Northern would be among the most significant architectural losses in Buffalo in decades.

But Brown said he saw no need to revisit the decision.

The mayor questioned whether he or the commissioner, under the city charter, could reverse the decision to issue the emergency demolition permit.

"While I supervise the commissioner, legally it is not believed that the mayor can reverse or overturn a decision by the commissioner of permit and inspection services proposing those assigned duties," Brown said.

Archer Daniels Midland, in a statement, said the large hole in the flat brick northern wall, exposing large steel bins, posed a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door.

He said the same could apply to Comerford.

"The commissioner's authority to rescind or change the notice of condemnation is not specifically set forth in the city charter and city code," Brown said.

The mayor said he didn't feel a need to consider opinions submitted to the court that challenged the ADM engineering reports. During a fact-finding hearing, Colaiacovo questioned a city attorney on the city's reliance on ADM's conclusions, rather than seeking an impartial viewpoint.

"What ADM is saying to us is they are simple statements and are not affidavits," Brown said. "ADM has told us they completely disagree with all of those individuals who have commented, and that the structure, from their engineering reports and studies, cannot be salvaged and is dangerous."

Sanjay Khanna, a consulting structural engineer who works with Jemal, reviewed the concerns raised by engineers working with ADM and in a statement to the court said they all appeared correctable.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

"There is no question in our mind that this building can be retained," Khanna wrote.

Robert Shibley, dean of the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning, is one of a number of other structural engineers, architects and academics who have questioned the scope, methodology and conclusions of ADM's reports and called for an in-depth investigation.

Paul McDonnell, Campaign for Greater Buffalo's president, delivered a point-by-point refutation of the ADM reports to the mayor on Monday. McConnell, as director of facilities for the Board of Education, oversaw the $1.3 billion Joint Schools Construction Board Project that restored or rehabilitated 48 Buffalo public schools.

"ADM did not thoroughly investigate the true condition of the building and whether it can be repaired, and therefore we believe their conclusions that the building needed to be torn down are in error," McDonnell said. "Mitigation of the public harm does not require demolition."

The mayor was asked if these opinions were grounds for revisiting the decision. The city code allows revocation of permits if "misrepresentation as to a material fact in the accepted application, plans or specifications" is found.

"I don't know, legally, if there is, necessarily, another path because this went through a legal process that lasted a few weeks, and in that legal process there was nothing that was presented where the judge determined that the emergency demolition should not move forward," Brown said.

Douglas Jemal says he'll put "my money where my mouth is" to save the Great Northern grain elevator.

The developer is offering Archer Daniels Midland $100,000 to stabilize the 1897 local landmark damaged in a Dec. 11 windstorm. He also offered to pay for outside structural engineers to examine the abandoned grain elevator and render an independent judgment on its condition.

"I believe the structure can be saved and should be saved, and ADM believes it shouldn't be saved and can't be saved, so I'll put my money where my mouth is and donate $100,000 toward stabilization of the building," Jemal told The News.

"I'm stepping up to the plate and the ball's in their court," Jemal said. "Here's my money."

James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, issued an emergency demolition order Dec. 17, but the city has not released the demolition permit required for ADM to tear down the structure.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture lost its court bid to prevent the city from issuing the demolition order. The preservation group has appealed the decision in the Appellate Division.

Jemal said the city should have had an independent structural engineer with a knowledge of historic buildings analyze the Great Northern before issuing the emergency demolition order. He called it a mistake to rely on a report by engineers hired by ADM, since the company has tried to demolish the structure on three previous occasions since taking ownership in 1996.

Jemal said he's frustrated by ADM's pursuit of demolition without showing regard to the structure's importance to Buffalo's history.

"I love historical preservation, and I do love old buildings and I love history," Jemal said. "What attracted me to Buffalo, candidly, was its architecture, which as we all know is magnificent.

"I want to save the Great Northern, and I won't let ADM bully this city around," Jemal said.

Sanjay Khanna, a consulting structural engineer who works with Jemal, reviewed a number of concerns raised by engineers working with ADM, but he said they all appeared correctable.

"There is no question in our mind that this building can be retained," Khanna said.

The Great Northern is the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator in North America, and the first, with the Electric Elevator, to be powered by electricity. Some of the 20 cylindrical steel bins inside, which are of a type that were were only used for around 10 years by the industry before being replaced by reinforced concrete bins, are partially viewable after the storm created a large hole in the north wall.

"My God, it's a gem," Jemal said, noting the structure's appearance has suffered from ADM's lack of attention during the 29 years the company has owned it.

"In its present state it is a blighted structure, but it's a blighted structure strictly by neglect," he said.

Jemal has made a career in Washington, D.C., and now Buffalo of resuscitating blighted buildings.

"Seneca One was a blighted structure. The Statler was a blighted structure. The police station was a blighted structure," Jemal said of the former Buffalo Police Headquarters on Franklin Street that he converted into apartments last year. "Private properties are blighted only by neglect, not because they're bad."

Jemal said he's been bombarded with messages since he stepped forward with an offer to ADM to buy, repair and reuse the Great Northern if the company was willing to sell the property.

"I'm over 500 emails and texts and letters," Jemal said. "My desk in Buffalo is packed with letters. The sentiment in this city is huge on saving the Great Northern."

Company attorney Brian Melber dismissed the idea of ADM selling the Great Northern when he was asked in court if the company would consider such an offer.

"The question at the end of the day is can it be saved, and the answer is unequivocally yes," Jemal said. "There is mitigation that you could do to save the building."

The Common Council unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday calling on Archer Daniels Midland to delay plans for demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator or to sell the structure so that it can be preserved.

The resolution, introduced by Council Members Chris Scanlon and Joseph Golombek and co-sponsored by Mitchell Nowakowski, David Rivera and Ulysses Wingo, noted that the Great Northern, on Buffalo's "elevator alley," was once the world's largest and one of the first to run on electricity.

"It is important that all options must be considered before making a decision that can never be undone," the resolution said.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture is seeking to appeal a court ruling decision last week in State Supreme Court upholding the emergency demolition order by James Comerford, commissioner of permit and inspection services.

Mayor Byron Brown has said he is holding discussions with ADM on the grain elevator's future.

Many years ago it was thought the Frank Lloyd Wright office building had to come down. Our city has been the poorer for that decision ever since. The ADM Great Northern grain elevator has been declared salvageable and very appropriate for redevelopment. Let the city not make the same mistake. This is a city proud of its extraordinary architecture. We have the leadership. Let’s maintain and add to that reputation.

Marcia Rashman Frankel

Williamsville

I will never understand the powers in Buffalo, and never understand why it never changes, ever. Buffalo makes a few steps forward, and then we are right back where we were in the last century. We reward lousy landlords over and over. Those who do not take care of the buildings worthy of our national heritage are routinely offered emergency demolition, even when there is no emergency, after years and years of neglect or worse by the landlord. Why?

The Great Northern grain elevator lost part of a wall – yes, it did-but all the bricks are in a pile where they fell next to the wall – how possibly is that a danger to people across the street? The rest of the wall did not fall in the 70 mph winds. The sheathing at the top – yes, that could be a danger, so secure it. It doesn’t need to be knocked down. We even had someone willing to buy the whole structure and renovate it. But the landlord couldn’t be bothered. And the city as always gave in. Buffalo accepts the testimony of the landlord’s engineers who have a clear conflict of interest, but not the data from engineers who are not in the pay of ADM. These people should not be allowed to help destroy the nation’s heritage. God save Buffalo.

Robert Jacobi

Getzville

The State Supreme Court ruling that “cleared the way” for the Great Northern grain elevator’s demolition after standing for nearly 125 years is a disappointing demonstration of the apparent disdain city leaders and private companies show for our city’s history.

After many years of neglect, Archer Daniels Midland has gotten their wish to demolish this part of Buffalo’s history by a failure to maintain their property and a lack of stewardship by city government. Mayor Byron Brown’s administration is apparently more concerned with touting projects from his wealthy developer donors than the hard work of preserving these remnants from the past.

Although I only moved to Buffalo five years ago, I have really come to appreciate the historical architecture of the city. After living in Charlotte, N.C., a city which has experienced rapid, uncontrolled growth in recent years; the old, industrial feel of Buffalo was a refreshing change.

I love walking, biking and driving around this city, admiring the many unique industrial, residential and commercial buildings. I hope the people of Buffalo can preserve, repair, and reuse other historical buildings that give this city so much of its character. The people of Buffalo cannot do this without the support of the city government. While I understand that Buffalo needs to be a place where businesses can operate, we cannot allow them to neglect and demolish buildings at their leisure.

Ethan Richenberg

Buffalo

A State Supreme Court judge may have given the green light for the wind-damaged Great Northern grain elevator to be demolished, but the fight to save the historic structure isn't over.

"The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up," State Sen. Sean Ryan said.

On Sunday, State Sen. Sean Ryan, Assemblyman Jonathan Rivera and Jessie Fisher of Preservation Buffalo Niagara stood in front of the grain elevator and again appealed to Archer Daniels Midland and the City of Buffalo to prevent the demolition of the giant brick structure.

"This building can be saved," said Ryan, surrounded by dozens of preservationists. "We know how to do it."

He also said that Archer Daniels Midland, the corporate owner whose North American headquarters is located in Decatur, Ill., can afford to spare the building, having brought in $4 billion in revenue last year.

State Sen. Sean Ryan, preservationists and civic leaders hold a news conference on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022, to urge saving the Great Northern grain elevator behind them, which is slated for demolition after it was damaged in a windstorm last month.

So far, however, efforts to save the building from a wrecking crew have failed. ADM has shown no interest in pleas from elected leaders to spare the building and declined to consider a public offer from developer Douglas Jemal to buy it.

While Mayor Byron Brown has publicly said he's urging ADM to preserve the building, he allowed his own administration to grant the emergency permit enabling the demolition to move forward.

The mayor's request comes days after his administration ordered an emergency demolition of the windstorm-damaged structure.

Michael DiPasquale, a regional planning professor with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, came to Buffalo to attend Sunday's news conference. He said he was frustrated that the city has not taken a firm stand to prevent the building's destruction when it has the authority to do so.

"I don't know what's going on in City Hall, but everyone is asking the same question," he said.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo said it sought the restraining order as a bridge to its expected appeal in appellate court next week that could come as early as Monday.

In a written statement Saturday, South Council Member Christopher Scanlon accused ADM of allowing the grain elevator to "deteriorate to the condition it is in today" and said the company should be held accountable for its "poor corporate citizenry." He said ADM "owes it to Buffalo to preserve their historic building."

But the public criticism has not swayed ADM in its efforts to try and demolish the building, which has been a historic landmark since ADM bought the property. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This is ADM's third attempt to have the building torn down since 1996.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Wednesday upheld the company's right to move forward with the demolition and determined that the City of Buffalo did not make the decision to issue an emergency demolition permit to ADM arbitrarily, even though he found the decision "regrettable."

State Sen. Sean Ryan, along with preservationists and civic leaders, holds a rally and press conference to urge saving the Great Northern Grain Elevator on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022.

Ryan and Fisher pointed out that the city has not yet released the emergency demolition order and said it's not too late for the building to be saved and repaired.

"We're calling on Archer Daniels Midland and the City of Buffalo to allow an independent expert to come in to look at the grain elevator, to figure out its true condition," Ryan said.

The demolition order comes as Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G said it wanted to explore the feasibility of reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

ADM has stated that the building poses a safety hazard to its employees in the adjacent flour mill and to other neighbors. Its engineers have stated the structure was not designed to withstand the high winds at its current location. The mortar throughout the brick building has deteriorated, and other parts of the building are in danger of falling and causing injury.

Demolition is necessary and unavoidable, the company said, but some historic artifacts may be saved before the structure is torn down.

Preservationists have contended that the Great Northern grain elevator, when considered as part of the overall concentration of standing grain elevators throughout the city, could make Buffalo a worldwide preservation destination.

As an ADM shareholder living in the Western New York region, I respectfully make the request that Archer Daniels Midland not demolish the ADM owned Great Northern Grain Elevator located in Buffalo.

Although recently damaged by wind, local engineers have indicated that this last of its kind in the United States grain elevator can be saved. The grain elevator, built in 1897, is historically significant and is a beloved icon in Buffalo, Western New York and the nation.

ADM’s reputation will be damaged here in the Buffalo area and nationally if ADM destroys this fine, historical building. At least one interested party has indicated that he would purchase the building at a fair market value and keep in place for future usage.

Let’s do the right thing and save this historic building.

Robert McLaughlin

Tonawanda

I am shocked and appalled by the attitude of Buffalo City Hall on the Great Northern grain elevator. The mayor and other city officials have missed the golden opportunity to work with Douglas Jemal on the possibility of preserving one of Buffalo’s real historic gems. I can only ask again, “What’s the matter with them?”

The City of Buffalo is home to the largest collection of grain elevators in the world and the Great Northern grain elevator is the oldest, built in 1897. It was one of the first to use electrical power. It had a huge capacity and could hold 74,000 bushels of grain. Our grain elevators are our historic monoliths, pyramid like monuments to our industrial heritage. The Great Northern grain elevator is the oldest grain elevator in Buffalo’s industrial heritage landscape.

Instead of demolishing the Great Northern the city has the opportunity to engage with Jemal to investigate saving and using the elevator. It seems that Jemal is the only one with vision. Sadly this looks like another Buffalo opportunity ignored.

Leona Rockwood

Lake View

I am a licensed architect, founder of Stieglitz Snyder architecture, and taught Architectural Design at the University at Buffalo for years. Earlier employment as a Field Archeologist for a Harvard-sponsored dig made me sensitive to the value of antiquities and how to con-serve them.

They’re about to demolish The Great Northern Grain Elevator because the people in charge don’t under-stand that that’s what Buffalo is. It’s a collection of incredible and significant architectural treasures. That’s what it is. Numerous times in my tenure in Buffalo we have allowed historic buildings to be lost; a cultural diminishment. We came dangerously close to losing the Old Post Office and the Guaranty Building. Both are still in use displaying the extraordinary craftsmanship of our earlier builders. In light of Douglas Jemal’s offer to purchase this irreplaceable registered historic building and restore it to a useful condition, the city’s rush to demolition is Inexcusable.

I urge citizens to demand of our city government that qualified third parties be enlisted to reevaluate and reconsider demolition decisions from multiple perspectives.

Secure and recommend options for future use of important artifacts. Define procedures for finding, funding and executing their recommended course of action. Select a qualified team of professionals to define and develop this approach.

That’s my suggestion. Figure out what to do with it; there are people who know what to do with it.

David T. Stieglitz

Buffalo

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Friday rejected Campaign for Greater Buffalo's request for a temporary restraining order to prevent the demolition of the historic Great Northern Elevator before the preservation group can appeal his ruling allowing the emergency demolition.

"I have been presented with nothing before the court today that would lead me to change my mind or provide a legal justification to stay the court's decision," Colaiacovo said.

In his ruling, Judge Emilio Colaiacovo found that James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, made a "rational" decision in ordering an emergency demolition after a Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the north wall.

The judge on Wednesday authorized the demolition to move forward, finding that James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permits and inspections, had acted "rationally" in reaching his decision to order an emergency demolition after the grain elevator was damaged in a Dec. 11 windstorm.

The preservation organization said it sought the restraining order as a bridge to its expected appeal in appellate court next week that could come as early as Monday.

The judge said the appellate division was the more appropriate court from which to to seek a stay.

"The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up," State Sen. Sean Ryan said.

"If the walls all come down, then there's nothing to appeal, and the appeal would be moot," Campaign for Greater Buffalo attorney Richard Berger said before the judge gave his decision.

Robert Quinn, the city's attorney, didn't object to the temporary restraining order. But Brian Melber, attorney for Archer Daniels Midland, which owns the grain elevator, saw no reason for the court to issue the stay.

Melber said ADM is proceeding with the demolition, but "it isn't going to bring us to the point of walls coming down by Monday morning."

City spokesman Michael DeGeorge said the city still holds the demolition permit, which ADM would need to proceed with demolition.

Developer Douglas Jemal said he appealed to Mayor Byron Brown to hold off on allowing the demolition for at least 30 days.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

Jemal, who believes the structure can be rehabilitated, has made a public offer to buy the Great Northern. Jemal's attorney, Dennis Vacco, will work on the appeal with the Campaign for Greater Buffalo.

The 1897 Great Northern is the last brick box grain elevator with steel bins left in the United States. It has drawn an outpouring of support from preservationists and others who value the city's grain elevators.

A judge says the City of Buffalo made a defensible decision in issuing a permit for the demolition of the Great Northern grain elevator. We have no quibble with his ruling, but defensible doesn’t mean correct.

Given the structure’s historic nature, the opinion of credible local developers that it can be saved and the desire of one of them to buy it, the city should revoke the permit and force Archer Daniels Midland either to perform the necessary repairs or transfer the building to a receiver.

Indeed, as State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo archly observed in issuing his ruling allowing the beloved building to be razed, “Had this building not been allowed to deteriorate after years of, at best, inaction, and at worst, neglect, perhaps this structure could have been saved.”

Perhaps it still can.

When James Comerford, Buffalo’s commissioner of permit and inspection services, authorized an emergency demolition of the grain elevator, a designated local landmark, he didn’t know that developers Rocco Termini and Douglas Jemal believed it to be salvageable, despite the gaping hole a December windstorm opened on its north wall. He also didn’t know that Jemal was willing to buy and repurpose the nationally unique structure.

ADM just wants to tear it down. It has tried to do so in the past rather than fix problems that it had previously cited and which the City of Buffalo, to its discredit, never forced it to undertake.

Now, it may be able to do that, unless an appeal somehow succeeds or the city rescinds its too-hasty permit.

That’s the approach encouraged by State Sen. Sean Ryan of Buffalo. He wants the city to reverse the order and, rather than rewarding ADM’s bad behavior, compel it to make repairs or, using the city’s new receivership program, transfer the building to a receiver who would make the repairs, stabilize the building and then find an interested buyer.

Paging Douglas Jemal.

• • •

What’s your opinion? Send it to us at [email protected]. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.

A State Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for the historic Great Northern grain elevator to be demolished.

Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Wednesday rejected a preliminary injunction sought by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture to prevent the emergency demolition of the rare 1897 brick box-style grain elevator with steel bins.

A decision will come "quickly" on whether to grant a preliminary injunction to a preservation organization hoping to stop the demolition of the damaged Great Northern grain elevator, State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo said Monday.

Archer Daniels Midland, the structure's owner, said in a statement that it will pursue demolition “without delay” to address safety concerns.

The company is “identifying artifacts from the structure that can potentially be preserved safely” and is “reaching out to potential partners to discuss ways in which those items can be displayed and shared with the community to celebrate the legacy of the structure for years to come,” spokeswoman Jackie Anderson said.

The imperiled grain elevator, ordered demolished by the Brown administration, has drawn an outpouring of support from preservationists and others who value the city's grain elevators.

One day after a State Supreme Court justice encouraged a settlement over the fate of the historic – but damaged – Great Northern grain elevator, none of the opposing sides budged from their positions.

"It's the worst loss since the loss of the Larkin Administration Building," said Frank Kowsky, SUNY Buffalo State emeritus professor of art history, citing the Frank Lloyd Wright building demolished in 1950. "It's a world-class monument of industrial architecture."

In his written ruling, Colaiacovo found James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, made a "rational" decision in ordering an emergency demolition of the grain elevator, a designated local landmark. A Dec. 11 windstorm damaged the north wall, and the judge rejected the claim that Comerford acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in issuing the emergency demolition order requested by ADM.

"It is regrettable that the court is required to make this determination," the judge wrote. "As noted during oral argument, the Great Northern Elevator is part of our city's landscape. However, the present condition of the building as well as the damage sustained during the December windstorm renders this decision rather straightforward.

"Had this building not been allowed to deteriorate after years of, at best, inaction, and at worst, neglect, perhaps this structure could have been saved," Colaiacovo said. "Yet, the court can only consider the record as it presently exists. That record includes the fact that more than half of the northern wall has collapsed, the building is over 123 years old and in a general state of disrepair that renders it unsafe."

Paul McDonnell, president of Campaign for Greater Buffalo, said the organization will immediately appeal the decision.

"The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up," State Sen. Sean Ryan said.

"We are extremely disappointed and we strongly feel there were and are alternatives to demolition to protect the health and safety of the public," McDonnell said.

McDonnell said the preservation organization believes the demolition order was based on assertions, including claims made in ADM's engineering report, that were not factual.

"We are also disappointed in the city's lack of regard, once again, for our historic structures," McDonnell said.

Comerford told the court on Monday that he considered drone imaging of the building and an engineering report from ADM, and he also consulted with city housing inspectors, his deputy commissioner and the fire commissioner before making his decision six days after the windstorm damaged the structure.

Colaiacovo said Comerford demonstrated that he did what was required to satisfy the court.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

"The commissioner's testimony evidences the deliberative and thoughtful process his department undertook before, ultimately, condemning the Great Northern Elevator and ordering its demolition," Colaiacovo said in his ruling.

"In light of the extensive record before it, the court cannot, and will not, substitute its judgment for that of the commissioner, as his determination is neither arbitrary, capricious or contrary to the law," the judge said.

Comerford said at Monday's hearing that he saw no need to seek outside opinions and saw no conflict by relying solely on ADM's engineering examination. The company sought a demolition permit on three previous occasions.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo, which disputed some of ADM's conclusions regarding the design and structural integrity of the building, said the commissioner should have sought an independent structural engineer to evaluate the structure before calling for an emergency demolition.

The preservationists said Comerford could have also referred the matter to the Buffalo Preservation Board or to Housing Court, where a judge could have required ADM to make repairs.

Archer Daniels Midland, in a statement, said the large hole in the flat brick northern wall, exposing large steel bins, posed a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door.

Colaiacovo said during Monday's hearing that expert opinions from structural engineers, contractors, architects and developers who came forward with restoration ideas after Comerford's decision were outside the scope of the court's evaluation.

"This should not be perceived as an invitation for a battle of the experts – engineers versus engineers – as to whether or not the property can be salvaged," Colaiacovo said at the hearing.

"The issue is narrowly defined by how the city reached the conclusion that a demolition order would be necessary," he added.

Developer Douglas Jemal said he and his structural engineer believe the Great Northern can be restored, and he made a public offer to buy the property from ADM. He offered to partner with Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G, which also expressed interest in buying the property.

But an ADM attorney said at Monday's hearing that the company had no interest in the property being used, even if it could be repaired, due to its location next to the company's flour mill.

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

Jemal criticized ADM, whose grain elevator was never inspected or cited for a violation by the city from 1993 until last month, a period of almost 29 years that it owned the local landmark.

"They're getting rewarded for being terrible citizens and terrible property owners, and getting exactly what they wanted after 30 years," Jemal said. "It's a sad day to see something like that go and someone be rewarded for neglect. I was hoping the judge would get a third party engineer to get another assessment.

"This was not in the best interest of preservation, the community and the city, and the history that exists in that grain elevator."

A decision will come "quickly" on whether to grant a preliminary injunction to a preservation organization hoping to stop the demolition of the damaged Great Northern grain elevator, State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo said Monday.

The fate of the historic 1897 brick box-style grain elevator, designated a local landmark, will hinge on whether James Comerford, the Buffalo commissioner of permit and inspection services, used "rational" judgment rather than acting "arbitrarily and capriciously" when he awarded an emergency demolition permit to Archer Daniels Midland, the structure's owner, the judge said.

A hearing on Monday delved into the commissioner's actions. Colaiacovo said materials submitted to the court, including expert opinions from structural engineers, architects and developers who believe the Great Northern can be restored, were outside the scope of his evaluation.

"This should not be perceived as an invitation for a battle of the experts – engineers versus engineers – as to whether or not the property can be salvaged," Colaiacovo said.

"The issue is narrowly defined by how the city reached the conclusion that a demolition order would be necessary," he said.

Comerford said at the hearing that he considered drone imagery, an engineering report from ADM and consultations with city housing inspectors and the fire commissioner before reaching his decision.

"I was concerned that further damage could occur with the wall that gave in," Comerford said. "We also saw stress lines on the east wall that got us nervous, and the drone footage showed evidence of the penthouse/cupola where there was corrugated metal flapping, and bowing on the river side."

Attorneys for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture cast doubt on several of the ADM-hired engineer's conclusions about the condition of the Great Northern.

Comerford said ADM came to him in 2010 or 2020 seeking an emergency demolition, which he rejected. Attorney Richard Lippes, a lawyer for the preservation group, asked him why he didn't seek an outside structural engineer for an independent assessment.

Comerford said he was confident in the team around him.

The judge asked city attorney Robert Quinn about Comerford's reliance on ADM's conclusions rather than seeking an impartial viewpoint.

Quinn contended Comerford didn't need to seek outside views and that he was dealing with an emergency situation.

"Under the law, that is not what is required," Quinn said. "Also, the fact of the matter is he did receive a report from a licensed engineer ... and you have to look at it in the context of the additional information that was reviewed.

"This wasn't a rush to judgment," he said.

Attorney Richard Berger, also representing Campaign for Greater Buffalo, said the damaged brick wall can be rebuilt to present-day code and the wind-strewn metal pieces can be secured. He said no engineering study has shown the steel girders supporting the cupola have eroded.

He noted the grain elevator was built to be fire-proof and there is no evidence of a fire ever happening there, discounting that contention of a threat.

"This is a lack of understanding in-house that I think shows the decision was arbitrary and capricious," Berger said.

Archer Daniels Midland submitted a bench memorandum Sunday to State Supreme Court, objecting to an informational hearing on the future of the Great Northern grain elevator scheduled for Monday by Justice Emilio Colaiacovo.

"ADM respectfully submits that conducting a fact-finding hearing is unnecessary and inconsistent with the applicable law," the memorandum said.

At 98, Henry Baxter offers testament to the days when grain storage and milling were an economic engine fueling growth in a booming Great Lakes city.

Colaiacovo scheduled the hearing to obtain additional information on whether James Comerford, commissioner of permit and inspection services, acted in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner in issuing an emergency demolition order at ADM's behest.

The 1897 Great Northern, the last remaining brick box-style grain elevator with steel bins in North America, sustained a large hole in its north wall during a Dec. 11 windstorm.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture is challenging the demolition order, maintaining the damage incurred does not affect its structural integrity or pose the imminent danger to the public ADM claims it does.

The Chicago-based commodities giant is seeking to demolish the local landmark for the fourth time since 1996.

Henry Baxter was away for Christmas, spending the holiday with his daughter Ellen and her family in Pennsylvania. Ellen and her husband, Robert Kavash, drove Baxter back to Buffalo on Monday, before they all grabbed a quick night's sleep and climbed into the car again, this time for a short ride to Ganson Street.

Henry Baxter, 98, who spent his lifetime working around and designing grain elevators, takes in the damaged Great Northern elevator on Ganson Street for the first time, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021. (Derek Gee / Buffalo News)

It was a chance for Baxter to study the wind damage done to the 1897 Great Northern grain elevator, though the Old First Ward is a frequent destination whenever one of his three children return for a visit. In a larger way – as it always is for him – this was about truly being home.

“I appreciate the impact these grain elevators had on the development of the city,” said Baxter, an engineer who – like his father and grandfather – spent years devoted to that district and its longtime purpose in Buffalo.

At 98, he offers testament to the days when grain storage and milling were an economic engine fueling growth in a booming Great Lakes city. His family, he said, played a direct role in designing at least four new grain elevators in Buffalo, and in expanding or repairing many more.

For Baxter, what has already been lost in that district over the years only underlines the visceral impact the Great Northern commands on Buffalo's ancient and almost primal waterfront skyline. He wishes the structure – repaired and reinforced – could survive the demolition order sought by Archer Daniels Midland, its owner, whose representatives declined to comment for this piece.

The problem, as Baxter put it, is that “rebuilding is not cheap.” It leaves him wondering if anyone, on short notice, can provide the kind of capital that would make it possible to save the structure.

Developer Douglas Jemal said he is prepared to step in and buy the old Great Northern grain elevator, based on a fair appraisal.

A few blocks away, in downtown Buffalo, Douglas Jemal raises his hand.

Jemal, a Washington, D.C., developer, arrived in Buffalo a few years ago and found a way to turn the lights back on in the long-dormant Seneca One tower, the city's tallest building. His Buffalo projects include a restoration of the Statler Hotel, whose sheer dimensions for years had been a formidable obstacle to restoration.

He said those efforts – the idea that he took on projects that it sometimes seemed might never be done – ought to establish just how serious he is. Almost immediately, after a December windstorm knocked a hole in Great Northern and the city granted ADM a demolition order, Jemal told The News' Mark Sommer that he was willing to work with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36 in an attempt to safely restore the building.

"This hearing will be limited to the issue of how the city reached its decision and, specifically, whether the commissioner had a rational basis for issuing the order for the demolition," State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo said.

In a phone conversation Thursday, Jemal repeated that commitment. He described Great Northern as a civic treasure, an industrial “Mona Lisa” that captures the city’s heritage in a singular way. He said he has received dozens upon dozens of messages of support since offering to step in, and the central point should be clear:

The community cares so much about Great Northern that it warrants extraordinary measures to save it. Jemal knows that State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo has ordered a hearing for Monday on whether the city acted rationally in swiftly issuing an emergency demolition order. Jemal said the answer is evident: Razing the structure makes no sense.

If ADM wants out of the situation, Jemal said he has a quick solution: Once the company provides a fair appraisal, “I’ll write them a check,” he said.

As for Baxter, I met him through Lorraine Pierro, president of Buffalo's Industrial Heritage Committee. While she and the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture and Culture – the organization that went to court to stop demolition – share a passion for the building, their visions for what comes next diverge in a big way.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo has reimagined a restored Great Northern grain elevator with this rendering.

“It’s almost like a billboard for Buffalo,” said Paul McDonnell, Campaign for Greater Buffalo president, whose group released a rendering that envisions the vast ground floor as entrepreneurial space, while making recreational use of a sweeping wharf. McDonnell dreams of Great Northern as an illuminated nighttime centerpiece when national television crews visit for Bills games.

To Pierro, the structure is intertwined with a functioning industrial milling area, meaning the most practical use would be as a giant, high-profile civic monument. “Shore it up,” she said, patch the vast hole with glass or plexiglass, and she said the view of the old metal bins inside would provide testament to what the Baxter family represents:

A time when Buffalo was a world capital for grain storage, which is the tale of Baxter's life.

Henry Baxter, 98, shown with his daughter Ellen near the wind-damaged Great Northern grain elevator, still enjoys quiet visits to Buffalo's historic milling district.

His grandfather, Alfred E. Baxter, was an engineer who moved to Buffalo from Milwaukee in the 1890s to work in the burgeoning grain industry. That career was embraced by Henry’s father, Allan, and by his late brother, Edward.

Henry Baxter met his late wife, Gloria, here, and they built a marriage of 56 years. He wrote a book about the city's grain elevators. He eats Cheerios every morning, and he laughed when asked if that is because they are made on Buffalo's waterfront – creating an aroma that floats across the city.

“It’s a nice town,” he said of why he never left, but the truth is that his family is in the fabric of the place.

As an engineer, he tries to approach this debate with the sensibilities of his profession. In what amounts to a kind of difficult contradiction, he said the most compelling reason to save Great Northern is the same reason sustaining it might be so difficult.

The metal bins, now visible, are protected by vast brick walls. More than a century ago, grain companies eventually realized that was a needless cost, since the bins provided adequate shelter by themselves.

Baxter said the Great Northern, built before the turn of the century, is one of the last to use what he calls “a shell of masonry" - what Chuck LaChiusa on his Buffalo Architecture and History web page describes as the “sole surviving 'brickbox' working house elevator in North America.”

“It shows you how things were done in 1896,” Baxter said, of a transition point for the industry, which he also said is the best reason for saving it.

Lorraine Pierro: Grain elevators as civic testaments.

The question, always the question, is the money. Baxter could not get close enough Tuesday to offer thoughts on structural integrity, but he summarized the core of the debate in a sentence:

“Certainly, there is a value in saving it, but whether the cost is up to the value is the real question mark.”

Jemal insists he can provide that lift, and that a community so passionate about the building would help him work out some creative mix of, say, museum space with offices for community organizations, or whatever makes sense.

To most of us, the grain elevators are a kind of industrial Stonehenge, haunting and mysterious forms from some distant past. Not to South Buffalo’s Wally

As for Baxter, he is a living witness to a time when that industry attracted thousands upon thousands of workers to process millions of barrels of grain, pouring into the waterfront. He is always moved by what the surviving grain elevators evoke, a concrete atmosphere that McDonnell would agree offers a kind of concrete Stonehenge effect that still ignites sheer awe.

Barely two months away from turning 99, Baxter has been here long enough to know these truths: Everything that offers hope to this community – the staggering architecture, the beautiful vista of the lake and river and more than anything the magnificent and vibrant assortment of human beings, arriving here to build new purpose – began with the city’s magnitude as a port, and its apex as a granary for the world.

“It put Buffalo on the map,” Baxter said, “and we’re lucky for our location.”

That much holds true. Even now, he feels it. The question is – as we again debate what ought to stay or go – just how much it is worth to try and save that feeling for our kids.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Thursday scheduled a fact-finding hearing for Monday as a prelude to rendering a decision about the fate of the wind-damaged Great Northern grain elevator in Buffalo.

Colaiacovo said his decision on the historic grain elevator will hinge on the legal interpretation of whether Jim Comerford, the city's commissioner of permit and inspection services, acted rationally in issuing an emergency demolition order following the Dec. 11 windstorm that blew a large hole in the north wall.

"This hearing will be limited to the issue of how the city reached its decision and, specifically, whether the commissioner had a rational basis for issuing the order for the demolition," Colaiacovo wrote.

What other witnesses or experts have to say will not be taken into consideration, he said.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture's requested the emergency demolition order be set aside.

"A more-developed record, outside what has been already submitted, is needed before the court can rule on the relief that is requested," Colaiacovo said.

The temporary restraining order granted to the preservation organization will be in effect until Monday's hearing, Colaiacovo said.

The 1897 Great Northern grain elevator is the last brick-box structure of its kind left in North America. Preservationists have rallied behind it, and developers Douglas Jemal and Rocco Termini, as well as structural engineers and contractors who also submitted materials to the judge, insist the structural integrity of the unused grain elevator is intact and it can be saved.

Jemal has offered to buy and restore the local landmark if Archer Daniels Midland, the building's owner, were to sell. The company maintains the building is not salvageable and for the fourth time during its ownership is seeking a demolition.

At a court hearing earlier this week, ADM attorney Brian Melber said debris falling from the structure poses an immediate safety risk to passersby, motorists, boaters on the City Ship Canal and customers at the Wonder Coffeehouse across the street. That risk, Melber said, trumped aesthetic and historic concerns.

Even as State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo urged litigants to come to a negotiated agreement on dealing with the damaged Great Northern Grain Elevator, he isolated a key question about the effort to demolish it: Is there really an emergency?

First the city said a December windstorm weakened the building so severely that the historic structure needed to be demolished immediately. Later, though, as efforts to save the structure took off – with two prominent developers backing the effort – Mayor Byron W. Brown retreated. Now he wanted to save the historic elevator.

So, is it an emergency or not? As Colaiacovo said, “It’s either one or another.”

With negotiations collapsing on Wednesday, that question will be key to how the judge rules in a lawsuit aimed at saving the building. The question, Colaiacovo said, will hinge on whether James Comerford, the city’s commissioner of permit and inspection services, acted in “an arbitrary and capricious manner” in issuing the emergency demolition authorization.

We don’t know that he did, but something doesn’t add up. What are the criteria for an emergency demolition? Were they followed? Comerford said his decision to issue the order was based after viewing extensive still and video images taken by a drone. Is that sufficient in making so critical – and, in this case, so momentous – a decision?

The storm opened a large hole in the building’s north wall, exposing large steel bins. Archer Daniels Midland, which owns the grain elevator and has made previous attempts to demolish it, says the damage is unfixable. But developers Douglas Jemal and Rocco Termini say the building is plainly and safely salvageable, and Jemal has offered to buy it.

Given Jemal’s credibility and the skin he has put in the game, and considering ADM’s chronic efforts to find a way to raze the building, it’s fair to believe that demolition is probably unnecessary. But, if that’s so, why did the city issue that authorization in the first place? And why did Brown change course?

That’s the question that needs to be answered after the immediate crisis is past. Without the lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, the building could have been razed already, likely unnecessarily.

To an untrained eye, structures such as the Great Northern Grain Elevator may seem little more than evidence of rust belt decay. But the brick box-style grain elevator, built in 1897, is believed to be the last of its kind standing in the United States. And Jemal, who has demonstrated an ability to put old buildings to productive use, believes he can do the same here. Those structures are part of what makes Buffalo special.

This is not just a one-off. Given Buffalo’s trove of historic structures, it’s essential to know that the city has a thoughtful and reliable method for evaluating future requests such as ADM’s, and that the method is followed consistently and transparently. There’s no coming back after a historic structure is sent to the gallows.

• • •

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So much for mediation.

One day after a State Supreme Court justice encouraged a settlement over the fate of the historic – but damaged – Great Northern grain elevator, neither of the opposing sides budged from their positions.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo wants a mediated settlement in the next week. But if the parties can't agree on one, the judge said he will quickly issue a decision.

The talks began Monday and were over by Tuesday, with neither the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, which is trying to save the structure, nor owner Archer Daniels Midland and the Brown administration, seeking to tear it down, reaching an agreement.

The preservation group sent a press release saying the sides "are heading back to court after a court-directed mediation was concluded yesterday and referred back to State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo."

That means Colaiacovo will render a decision on the future on the 1897 structure, which was damaged by a windstorm on Dec. 11.

"The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up," State Sen. Sean Ryan said.

Colaiacovo, who continued the stay to the city's emergency demolition order, said on Monday that he wanted a mediated settlement within the next week.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo on Dec. 17 challenged an emergency demolition order the city granted to ADM earlier that day, asserting Jim Comerford, the city's commissioner of permit and inspection services, should have explored other alternatives before calling for the wrecking ball on the last brick-box-style grain elevator left in North America.

ADM and the city contend the structure poses an immediate risk to public safety and needs to come down. It's not the first time ADM has sought an emergency demolition. It did so three times: in 1996, 2003 and 2020, according to Comerford.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

Colaiacovo said in court Monday, after the conclusion of arguments, that the restraining order would remain in effect until a mediated settlement or, if that failed to happen, his ruling.

The Campaign for Greater Buffalo on Wednesday released renderings on what the Great Northern could look like if it were repaired and restored.

A rendering from the Campaign for Greater Buffalo reimagines a restored Great Northern grain elevator.

"The Great Northern has a huge ground floor – almost an acre – on the City Ship Canal that could conceivably house dozens of small enterprises and offices," Paul McDonnell, an architect and Campaign for Greater Buffalo's president, said in a statement.

"Not only is there a 400-foot wharf on the canal, there is also a filled-in canal boat slip that we'd like to see re-watered," he said. "Add that to the 4-story workhouse at the top, and you can begin to imagine the potential.

"We'd definitely like to see the word "BUFFALO" on it in letters three stories high," McDonnell said. "That would be the city's calling card."

The fate of the historic Great Northern grain elevator will remain undecided for at least another week.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Monday urged a settlement between those seeking to tear down the 1897 structure, the City of Buffalo and Archer Daniels Midland, and a preservation organization seeking to save it, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

Colaiacovo, who continued the stay to an emergency demolition order, said he wants a mediated settlement over the next week. If the parties can't agree on one he will quickly render a decision.

"Because of the significance of this matter, the court is going to reserve its decision and will issue a written decision shortly," Colaiacovo said.

The judge asked Barbara Howe, a former State Supreme Court Judge and certified mediator, to immediately begin trying to reach a settlement.

The two sides began meeting with Howe shortly after the court proceeding.

"I told (Howe) I want this to be mediated within a week and if it can, great," the judge said. "If not, the court will issue its decision. But I think we need to leave everything out on the field before the court reaches its determination."

The Great Northern was damaged on Dec. 11 by a windstorm, revealing some of the steel bins long encased inside. The city granted ADM, which owns the building, an emergency demolition order that has been challenged by the preservation organization.

It's the fourth time that the Chicago-based commodities giant has sought to tear the structure down.

During the 67-minute session, Colaiacovo said the case will hinge on whether James Comerford, the city's commissioner of permit and inspection services, acted in "an arbitrary and capricious manner" in issuing the emergency demolition.

The judge acknowledged the public attention the Great Northern has received.

"It is difficult to ignore the public outcry to save this building," Colaiacovo said. "There is a significant interest in certain sections of the public to save this important historical building."

The judge added any ruling would be driven by the law and not emotion.

Richard Lippes, attorney for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo, contended Comerford rushed to judgment without exploring other remedies that could safely preserve the local landmark, the last standing brickbox grain elevator in North America.

Lippes cited the written testimony of structural engineers and architects, who said they were certain the structure could be repaired, along with suggestions on how to do so. One of the engineers works closely with Douglas Jemal, a developer who has offered to buy the building and repurpose it.

Based on that, a normal order of demolition, which would send the matter to the Buffalo Preservation Board for review, should have occurred instead of the issuing of an emergency demolition, Lippes said. Or the city could have instructed ADM to make the necessary repairs, he said.

But ADM attorney Brian Melber said there is no time for that. He cited debris falling from the building which, he said, posed an immediate safety risk to passersby, motorists and customers at the Wonder Coffeehouse across the street.

"There is no way to protect those areas from debris flying off this building and striking someone," Melber said.

That risk, Melber said, trumped aesthetic and historic concerns.

The judge asked Lippes how he explained away warnings about the building's condition contained in an engineer's report prepared for ADM, and by the city's fire commissioner. Lippes said they were rebutted by testimony from experts submitted to the court, including assertions that the damage to the north wall did not affect the integrity of the rest of the structure.

"How can you say that this is not a hazard?" Colaiacovo asked. "This is a gaping hole on the side of the elevator."

"The hole doesn't have anything to do with the structure itself – it's like a facade," Lippes said. "Even if those bricks fell, it doesn't present a further danger."

The judge asked ADM why the company wouldn't want to preserve the building.

"It's not a question of desire, judge," Melber said. "It's a question of the paramount importance of safety."

Melber, citing engineers, said "the walls are too high and too thin, are not supported by metal bracing and were never built to withstand the wind at that location. The events of the past couple of weeks have demonstrated those engineers are right."

The judge expressed skepticism.

"It has withstood inclement weather for the past 125 years," he said. "This is nothing new for Western New York."

He asked city attorney Rashied McDuffy how he reconciled a Dec. 23 letter from the mayor to ADM calling on the company to preserve some or all of the structure at the same time his commissioner was ordering an emergency demolition.

"Your Honor, I don't believe you need to," McDuffie said. "In this instance the statute put the authority to make a decision clearly with the commissioner of permits and inspections."

"But if it's an emergency that requires demolition, how can the mayor say, wait a minute, we think this can be saved," the judge asked. "It's either one or another."

When the cobblestone streets at Canalside that supposedly no longer existed were found, I remember Tim Tielman dancing for joy on the newly uncovered slate sidewalk. It’s how we all should feel about developer Doug Jemal’s offer to buy and restore the Great Northern grain elevator.

The ongoing effort to preserve the remarkable edifices of Buffalo’s history has not been easy. When I learned that this historic elevator was about to be torn down, I thought here we go again. It reminded me of a presentation in City Hall during a conference held here by the National Trust for Historic Preservation that was punctuated with groans from the audience as pictures of magnificent buildings we have seen fit to demolish appeared on the screen.

Years ago when the last “flat-top” laker, Kinsman Independent was facing decommissioning, the National Park Service had just established the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. I met with the Service’s local representative and urged that the ship be docked next to the Great Northern in order to create a one-of-a-kind interactive museum – a perfect bookend to the Corridor. It was not what they had in mind.

Given all that he is doing for our city – the Seneca Tower, the Statler and Hyatt, it is not surprising that he also has the vision to consider the Richardson complex and Central Terminal. Now, once again, he has offered to solve a difficult problem. I am sure all who have worked to preserve the edifices that make this city special, will join me in extending to Jemal a heartfelt expression of thanks.

Andrew Graham

Buffalo

State Sen. Sean Ryan is calling on the Byron Brown administration to rescind its emergency demolition order for the historic Great Northern grain elevator.

At the same time, a contractor who has examined the Great Northern said in an affidavit to State Supreme Court that the north wall damaged in a Dec. 11 windstorm "is totally independent from the rest of the structure" and "does not compromise the remainder of the Great Northern Elevator."

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo extended the temporary restraining order preventing demolition for now.

And a structural engineer working with developer Douglas Jemal submitted a statement to the court expressing certainty that the Great Northern can be preserved.

Both were in support of a lawsuit filed by the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture calling on the Brown administration to revoke the emergency demolition, with arguments in State Supreme Court to resume Monday.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

In a letter Friday to James Comerford, commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services, Ryan cited Jemal's contention that the locally landmarked 1897 structure can be restored and his willingness to buy the property. He said there should be an immediate independent feasibility assessment of the hulking brick box structure, the last of its kind in North America.

"Given the current circumstances, it would be unconscionable for the demolition to go forward," Ryan said. "The structure can be repaired and rehabilitated, but in order to get there, we need the City of Buffalo to step up."

Wind caused damage to the north wall of the grain elevator, owned by ADM Milling Co., a division of commodities giant Archers Daniel Midland at 250 Ganson St., opened for business in 1897 and was last used in 1981. It sits next to a flour mill that was added later and is still in operation. Sunday, Dec. 12, 2021.

The mayor's request comes days after his administration ordered an emergency demolition of the windstorm-damaged structure.

Comerford ordered an emergency demolition after it was sought by Archer Daniels Midland. The company filed an engineering report highlighting problems with the structure identified years before the December windstorm. Those problems have gone unrepaired. ADM, which requested emergency demolitions prior to this month in 1996, 2003 and 2020, was never told by the city to correct those problems.

Ryan said tearing down the Great Northern would not only be a historic loss, but would also reward ADM's behavior. Instead, he said, the city should compel the company to make repairs through its new receivership program piloted by Preservation Buffalo Niagara.

If ADM was unwilling to make repairs, the building should go to a receiver who would make the repairs, stabilize the building and then find an interested buyer, Ryan said.

The demolition order comes as Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G said it wanted to explore the feasibility of reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

"Our city loves to celebrate the success of preservation, but those successes require action," Ryan said. "We can save this building. We just need the City of Buffalo to act."

That view was echoed by Fillmore Council Member Mitchell Nowakowski.

"ADM has proven to be an irresponsible owner," Nowakowski said. "They have had years to rehabilitate this building and have done nothing.

"With an independent assessment and our receivership program, we can finally get this building into responsible hands and preserve this unique part of Buffalo's history. The demolition permit should be rescinded to in order to make this happen."

Archer Daniels Midland, in a statement, said the large hole in the flat brick northern wall, exposing large steel bins, posed a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door.

Kenneth Keller, a contractor with a history of working on historic buildings, including projects with developer Rocco Termini, said the damaged north wall "can be easily isolated with fencing and other barriers to mitigate any danger to the public."

He reached his opinion after reviewing "extensive drone footage and photographs" of the grain elevator.

Keller also suggested wrapping the entire structure in "debris netting" commonly used in dense urban areas, including several glass-and-steel and masonry skyscrapers in Manhattan damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks. Cranes and boom trucks can reach the top of the Great Northern to install the netting, he said, as well as remove or reattach damaged metal panels the city has expressed concern about.

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

Sanjay Khanna, a consulting structural engineer who works with Jemal, reviewed a number of issues identified by engineers working with ADM, but he said none weren't correctable.

"Our office has been involved with many projects involving historic structures in D.C. and other parts of the U.S., where similar repairs and restorations have been made," Khanna said. "There is no question in our mind that this building can be retained."

Mayor Byron Brown on Thursday again asked Archer Daniels Midland to consider preserving the Great Northern grain elevator.

His request comes days after his administration ordered an emergency demolition of the windstorm-damaged structure.

"While the imminent danger needs to be addressed, there is the possibility of mitigating that danger and saving the elevator wholly or in part," Brown wrote to Juan Luciano, ADM's CEO. "As mayor of Buffalo, I am asking you to make every effort to preserve the Great Northern Elevator."

The historic grain elevator has drawn an outpouring of support as the last surviving brick box elevator of its magnitude in a city that celebrates its collection of grain elevators. Brown has come under criticism for his administration's decision to grant ADM an emergency demolition without exploring alternatives. Developers Douglas Jemal and Rocco Termini insist the structure is repairable, and Jemal has offered to buy and restore it.

Great Northern grain elevator, built in 1897, was damaged in recent wind storm, two excavators and a Bobcat were moved on site Saturday for emergency demolition, The grain elevator, in Buffalo, on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, developer Douglas Jemal called for the demolition to be stopped and offered to buy the building from Chicago-based owner Archer Daniels Midland.

"The mayor and his commissioner caused this problem, and to his credit now recognizes his mistake, but has still not used the various options available to him, including withdrawing the emergency demolition and sending this matter to the Preservation Board for further action that would save the building," said Richard Lippes, attorney for the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture.

The preservation organization secured a temporary restraining order that's in place until Monday, when court arguments over the Great Northern's future will resume.

"I expect the mayor wants it both ways," Lippes said. "He doesn't want to admit he made a mistake, and wants to look like a good guy by asking ADM to do the right thing that he should have done in the first place and can still do."

Brown's letter appeals to ADM's history and Buffalo's heritage.

"Our stories intersect with the Great Northern Elevator; it is one of the places where ADM, 'Supermarket to the world," connects with a city that grew from the grain industry," Brown said.

He also wrote, "the story of our city is told through our buildings and would be deeply impacted by the loss of the elevator. I appeal to you to save the Great Northern Elevator and make our legacy part of yours."

Brown offered to assist ADM in obtaining a range of resources, including historic and brownfield tax credits, if the company decides to preserve the structure.

He also mentioned "several offers from reputable entities to either form a partnership in preservation or to buy and save the elevator."

Chances of that appear slim. ADM attempted to demolish the building in 1996, 2003, 2020 and now again in 2021. A company spokeswoman declined over the past few days to discuss ADM's intentions or Jemal's offer to buy the building.

Archer Daniels Midland, one of the richest corporations in the United States, is attempting to demolish Buffalo’s historic Great Northern grain elevator. If that’s not absurd enough, the demolition is proposed at the same time the city celebrates the prominent role local landmarks play in Guillermo del Toro’s new movie, “Nightmare Alley.”

Talk about nightmares. How on earth could the city issue an emergency demolition order for such an important building?

The Great Northern is perhaps the city’s most historic structure still standing. As most people know, Buffalo is where the grain elevator was invented. And the grain milling industry helped catapult the city to its greatness.

But the value of the Great Northern exceeds its historic significance. My research and design work focuses on America’s “Legacy Cities,” the once great manufacturing centers like Buffalo. One of the greatest assets these cities have (Pittsburgh, Detroit and Cleveland are very similar) is their irreplaceable infrastructure: tree-lined streets, dense neighborhoods, museums, parks and buildings that provide each city its unique character.

Increasingly, authentic places such as Buffalo attract visitors, new residents and investment.

Many of us are familiar with Buffalo’s legacy of monumental architecture by H.H. Richardson, Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan. These buildings, along with the city’s Olmsted park system, are obviously important. But other cities have similar examples.

Buffalo is the only city in the country with something of the quality and prominence of the Great Northern. It is the only local example and the sole surviving "brick box" working house elevator in North America.

As far as the structure goes, I’m confident it can be saved. I’ve worked on the rehabilitation of many masonry buildings. The Great Northern’s design and structure make it a unique and very strong building. I see no reason why the wind damage can’t be successfully repaired.

It would be an act of monumental recklessness to demolish the Great Northern. In fact, it would recall another huge mistake: the Larkin Building demolition.

If I’ve learned anything from more than 30 years studying post-industrial cities (in addition to being a licensed architect, I’m a certified city planner and I teach urban design), it’s that their future depends, to a large degree, on how well they leverage assets such as the Great Northern.

Luckily for the city, Douglas Jemal gets it. He’s been leveraging Buffalo’s historic assets for several years now. He is well poised to implement a development plan to save the Great Northern.

I support Jemal, along with the Campaign for Greater Buffalo and others who are working to save the building. But they shouldn’t have to do it alone. I encourage all parties and all people who love Buffalo, as I do, to work together to save the Great Northern. It is simply irreplaceable.

It is ironic that the recent, extreme windstorm that blew open the northern wall of the Great Northern grain elevator, exposing its contents to the public for the first time since it was built in 1897, may be its savior.

Thousands of people who have taken the Buffalo Industrial History boat tours over the past 35 years have seen its huge brick wall and marine legs close-up from the Miss Buffalo II and heard speakers describe the complex machinery that unloaded, weighed, stored and distributed grain brought to Buffalo on ships from the Midwest.

In 1991, the Industrial Heritage Committee, a Buffalo non-profit organization, commissioned Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), part of the National Park Service, to document all of Buffalo’s grain elevators by functional description and extensive photography (accessible online). As one of several volunteers who assisted photographer Jet Lowe, I was fortunate to explore most of the existing elevators including Great Northern. Due to safety liability concerns, this was a rare instance in its now 124 year history that non-employees were allowed access to view its contents – including the original electric motors still functional, the first ever to power a grain elevator (older were steam powered).

Now, thanks to developer Douglas Jemal, there is a chance that this unique, immense structure will be saved and re-purposed as apartments overlooking Buffalo’s waterfront, an industrial museum, commercial spaces or some combination of these possible uses. It is noted that the Planing Mill apartments on Elm Street have original woodworking tools featured inside.

Because the Great Northern has remained closed and secured since grain last moved through it 40 years ago, it’s time that this unique, historic structure be again put to good use.

Jim Greene

Orchard Park

The fate of the 1897 Great Northern grain elevator has been put off until Monday.

State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo on Wednesday scheduled arguments between Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture, which is trying to preserve the structure, and Archer Daniels Midland, the Chicago-based owner that wants to tear it down following damage to the north wall that occurred from a Dec. 11 windstorm.

Colaiacovo extended the temporary restraining order preventing demolition until Monday.

The City of Buffalo had approved an emergency demolition order, citing public safety concerns.

Developer Douglas Jemal is aiding Campaign for Greater Buffalo's effort and has offered to buy and restore the Great Northern.

Developer Rocco Termini has also become involved in the preservation group's effort to save the last brick box grain elevator in the world.

"I've done worse buildings than this," Termini said of the Great Northern, located at 250 Ganson St. "This is the only building of its type left in the world, and our answer is demolition?"

An ADM spokeswoman said the company had no comment.

Once again Buffalo is confronted with an insult to its dignity as a great city. Where Archer Daniels Midland sees a liability, others here and around the world see the Great Northern grain elevator as an incomparable asset. No other shed style grain elevator of this magnitude exists anywhere on Earth. As a monument of the early industrial era, it ranks with the Stanley Dock Tobacco Warehouse (1901) in Liverpool and the Battersea Power Station (1929) in London both of which are regarded as two of the largest brick buildings on the planet.

The Great Northern (1898), however, excels both of them for the sheer magnitude of its brick walls, surely among the largest expanse of brick surfaces on any structure in existence. Its monumental enclosed volume is a tribute to the skill and daring of a former generation of Buffalo brick craftsmen. The Battersea Power Station (a classified British landmark) and the Stanley Dock (a World Heritage UNESCO Site) have been saved and repurposed and attracted international attention for the success of their revival.

Let us hope that the Great Northern will join them and the other eight structures (including Poland’s 13th century Malbork Castle) that are generally ranked as the world’s 10 largest brick buildings.

Francis Kowsky

Fellow

Society of Architectural Historians

SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Buffalo

Hold off on the wrecking ball.

The Brown administration and Archer Daniels Midland moved too quickly in moving to demolish the Great Northern grain elevator that was badly damaged in a Dec. 11 windstorm. Fortunately, a judge stayed the city’s premature order as developer Douglas Jemal announced his wish to buy and repair the 124-year-old structure.

To the untrained eye, the grain elevator certainly appears to be catastrophically damaged. The storm tore open the building’s flat brick northern wall, creating what the company called “significant safety concerns on-site and at adjacent properties and roadways.”

Nonsense, said Jemal.

“I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved,” he told The Buffalo News. “It’s a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.”

Then, if people are paying attention, he sealed the deal: “If ADM wants to sell the building, I will buy the building and preserve and stabilize that building. ADM has a ready, willing and able buyer.”

Why wouldn’t ADM want to sell the building? Its choices are to spend money to tear the structure down or to accept money for the joint privilege – ADM’s, Jemal’s and Buffalo’s – of having a successful and visionary developer take it off its hands.

The fact is that ADM has been itching to demolish the building for some time. This month’s storm provided an additional argument, but assuming Jemal knows what he is talking about – and Buffalo has learned to trust his construction sense – it’s not only unnecessary, but unwanted.

Because of Jemal’s expertise, his interest and his money, some of Buffalo’s most challenging properties are coming back to life: Seneca One, the Statler Building and the Hyatt Regency are now among his properties. He’s planning to save the moribund Boulevard Mall and has expressed interest in the Richardson Towers and the Central Terminal. Other projects are in the works.

His focus on the damaged grain elevator is new and he said he needs time to fully assess the building’s condition. But that time, he said, is available.

“No one is in imminent danger over there,” Jemal said, referring to the building and the neighboring flour mill. “It’s on an island. No one’s in there and it’s not falling down on the flour mill.”

A decision on whether to allow the grain elevator to be razed could come as soon as Wednesday, three days after Supreme Court Justice Dennis J. Ward issued a temporary restraining order barring demolition of the historic structure, which is believed to be the last of its kind in the United States.

The order was issued at the request of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture. Jemal says he will join the organization in court Wednesday when the parties are to meet again. He will make a powerful ally.

Jemal even has a potential tenant for the building. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G last week expressed interest in reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

What is needed now is for Archer Daniels Midland to do the right thing, for itself and for Buffalo. Jemal put it succinctly.

“These silos are Buffalo’s monuments,” he said of his adopted city. “Those are our monuments.”

“I’m sick and tired of people taking advantage of Buffalo and taking the magnificent architecture the city has and destroying it,” he added. “Not on my .... watch.”

• • •

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Developer Douglas Jemal wants to save the historic Great Northern grain elevator, and is urging Archer Daniels Midland not to proceed with an emergency demolition granted by the city Thursday.

Jemal spoke as two excavators – one with a long boom – and a Bobcat were moved onto the site over the weekend, possibly in preparation for demolition.

The demolition order comes as Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G said it wanted to explore the feasibility of reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

"I looked at that building very closely, and that building absolutely could be saved," Jemal told The Buffalo News. "It's a magnificent building. I have tackled a hundred times worse than that.

"If ADM wants to sell the building, I will buy the building and preserve and stabilize that building. ADM has a ready, willing and able buyer."

Jemal's interest comes as the Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture & Culture obtained a temporary restraining order from a State Supreme Court justice Sunday to halt demolition of the 1897 brick box-style grain elevator with steel bins, believed to be the last of its kind standing in the United States.

Archer Daniels Midland, in a statement, said the large hole in the flat brick northern wall, exposing large steel bins, posed a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door.

The restraining order by Justice Dennis J. Ward bars demolition or alteration of the building until Wednesday, when the parties are scheduled to appear again.

"It will take a powerful effort," said Tim Tielman, the Campaign for Greater Buffalo's executive director. "Our adversary, ADM, has a lot of resources and they have the City of Buffalo arguing with them by their side."

Jemal said he is having his own structural engineer look at the structure, and will join the Campaign for Greater Buffalo in court in an effort to convince the judge that the Great Northern can be saved and reused.

Mayor Byron Brown's spokesman, Mike DeGeorge, said the administration had "no comment" regarding Sunday's developments.

A message seeking comment from ADM, based in Chicago, was not returned.

A statement earlier in the week from the company warned of "significant safety concerns on-site and at adjacent properties and roadways" after last weekend's massive wind storm knocked a hole in the elevator's north wall.

The Brown administration could have forced ADM to repair the grain elevator after the wall was extensively damaged by high winds Dec. 11. Instead, James Comerford, commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services, ordered an emergency demolition based on public safety concerns raised by engineers and drone footage.

Brown then appealed to ADM to consider preserving all or part of the Great Northern, despite the company's past requests to demolish the site as recently as last year.

The historic Great Northern grain elevator suffered damage from the Dec. 11 windstorm. Archer Daniels Midland wants to demolish the structure, but developer Douglas Jemal wants to redevelop it.

Jemal said he was reluctant to come forward at first because he didn't want to ruffle any feathers, but he is now because he feels deeply protective of Buffalo's history.

"These silos are Buffalo's monuments. Those are our monuments," Jemal said.

"I'm sick and tired of people taking advantage of Buffalo and taking the magnificent architecture the city has and destroying it," he added. "Not on my .... watch."

Jemal said he needs time to make a careful assessment of the unused Great Northern's condition, and said cordoning off the site should be sufficient to protect the public.

"No one is in imminent danger over there," Jemal said, referring also to the flour mill next door. "It's on an island. No one's in there and it's not falling down on the flour mill.

"Old buildings don't fall, they stay. They're very strong. That building was built right."

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

Rep. Brian Higgins, who has urged ADM to save the building using possible historic tax credits, welcomed Jemal's offer.

"If Doug Jemal wants to buy and save the Great Northern, that's a big, compelling statement of viability," Higgins said. "His offer requires serious consideration and collective effort."

Lorraine Pierro, president of the Industrial Heritage Committee, was encouraged by Jemal's expression of interest. The organization raised the funds to bring the National Park Service to Buffalo in 1991 to document all of the city's grain elevators.

"That's wonderful, because we don't have another grain elevator of that type in Buffalo," Pierro said. "It was an important step in the development of grain elevators that originated here in Buffalo in 1842."

Jemal is working on or has completed several large-scale projects in Buffalo, including the redevelopment of the Statler Building, the downtown Simon properties and modernizing the recently purchased Buffalo Hyatt Regency. He is also negotiating to develop the Richardson Olmsted Campus.

Jemal said some possibilities for reusing the Great Northern could be apartments – which he noted is being done at Silo City – manufacturing or, possibly, a tech hub.

"You can do anything with it," Jemal said. "You have to restore it, respect it and bring it back to its adaptive reuse life. It will have historic significance and be so damn cool. Who wouldn't want to be there?"

Jemal said he's rebuilt numerous historic structures in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere after being told they were unsafe and needed to come down.

"Guess what? I restored them and made a fortune," he said.

Jemal said he also would welcome the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G, which said before the mayor's announcement Friday that it wanted to explore the feasibility of reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

"Their hearts are in the right place and I will partner with them. Absolutely," Jemal said.

The union's interest triggered support from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which urged the City of Buffalo and ADM to allow independent structural engineers, with expertise in historic buildings, to make an evaluation to develop a plan for preservation before rushing to raze the Great Northern.

"This is the City of Buffalo's and Archer Daniels Midland's obligation to the people of Buffalo," the statement said.

Buffalo's inspections commissioner ordered the emergency demolition of the weather-damaged Great Northern grain elevator.

But even as the commissioner announced that decision Friday, Mayor Byron Brown appealed to the historic grain elevator's owner, Archer Daniels Midland, to save as much of the structure as possible.

"I am asking ADM to quickly consider preserving all or a portion of the structure because of the historic significance we know exists," Brown said.

After last Saturday's windstorm damaged the structure, ADM asked for the city's permission to demolish it.

The order to demolish the structure from James Comerford, commissioner of the Department of Permit and Inspection Services, came as a union local asked the city to delay a decision so it could explore buying and repairing the property. The demolition order prompted an outcry from preservationists and the urging by Rep. Brian Higgins for the city to force ADM to repair the structure.

"We determined the building is not safe and have given the order of an emergency declaration to ADM to tear the building down," Comerford said.

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

Given the demolition order, why would ADM agree to the mayor's appeal to save the grain elevator?

"I don't know what they're going to do," Brown said. "They are aware of the public requests to salvage the structure."

Brown said ADM has "the resources and means to consider preservation if they want to."

Higgins said he is "disappointed" by the city's demolition decision.

"I think it rewards ADM's negligence and their indifference toward our community," Higgins said.

"My Washington and Buffalo folks will try to come up with something that has the goal of buying a period of time in which we can make a rational decision," he said.

The reaction from preservationists was swift.

"It's an outrage and unnecessary," said Tim Tielman, executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. "Architects and engineers have told us there is no need for an emergency demolition."

Tielman said he has notified the city that the Campaign for Greater Buffalo will seek a temporary restraining order to halt the demolition.

The city has the power to require an owner to make emergency repairs, and "we can't think of a better application of that legal standard than in one of the most unique structures on North America," said Jessie Fisher, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara.

"Buffalo is a city that is known for its grain elevators and historic architecture," she said. "We have the legal mechanisms to protect them. The fact we consistently fail to protect what makes us special and important is a huge disappointment."

Concern for public safety

Comerford said he reached his decision after reviewing the building's exterior after a drone inspection on Wednesday.

A large hole in the flat brick northern wall exposes large steel bins, posing a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door, ADM said.

"We're very nervous about other parts of the building coming down," Comerford said. "The wall is very weak right now."

Comerford noted stress cracks in the brick wall on the eastern wall facing the street, and corrugated metal from the building landed on the guard house and by Wonder Coffeehouse across the street.

"I'm not a seer. I can't predict when a wall is going to come down," he said. "My main concern is the public safety. There are over 100 people employed at ADM and over 400 at General Mills."

ADM sought to demolish the Great Northern in 1996, three years after acquiring the structure that was locally landmarked in 1990 and again in 2003.

Comerford said the company again approached him last year to see if he would grant an emergency demolition. He said he declined.

Comerford said the building was never written up for any violations in the 31 years it has been landmarked until last weekend, despite visible signs of minimal maintenance.

"We never had one complaint on that building," Comerford said.

'Bringing it back to life'

Before news of the demolition permit, a 600-member labor union had asked the Brown administration to hold off making a decision.

Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 36G wants to explore the feasibility of reusing the structure as a union hall, credit union office and public museum.

“This building represents a profound part of Buffalo’s place as a center of grain milling, and it's the last of the brick box-style elevators that originated here in Buffalo," said Anthony Barker, president of Local 36G.

Flour mill workers are among those represented by the local.

"We would love to be part of bringing it back to life for a new use to serve Buffalo’s future," Barker said. "We wouldn’t be able to do it on our own, but with the right community support, we think we can be part of the solution for saving this part of Buffalo’s history for future generations.”

A message to Chicago-based ADM's corporate headquarters seeking a response was not returned.

The Great Northern, 250 Ganson St., was the largest grain elevator in the world when built in 1897.

The local needs time to evaluate the building and is already in touch with architects, Barker said.

"We are going to explore every avenue," Barker said. "Our roots are there. It would be great to own a part of our history and have the building functioning in some capacity once again."

The building's sheer size – it's 400 feet long, 120 feet wide and 165 feet tall – is challenging but also presents opportunities, Barker said.

Replacing the north wall with glass to reveal the large steel bins is a possibility, he said.

Barker said the building needs a lot of work. ADM's maintenance of the Great Northern when he worked there, Barker said, was "mainly anchoring down any loose roofing panels."

He's not worried about the hole in the wall.

"There was a large hole in 1907, ten years after being built, and it was repaired," he said.

Barker said workers in the flour mill don't believe they are threatened by the damaged grain elevator.

"No, not at all," he said. "If they were in danger, ADM would shut the mill down and transfer the work to another facility in the region."

Archer Daniels Midland called Tuesday for demolition of the historic Great Northern grain elevator after it was damaged in Saturday's windstorm.

Rep. Brian Higgins said minutes later that it shouldn't happen, and he called on the City of Buffalo to require the Chicago-based commodities giant to make the necessary repairs.

"They should hold firm and hold ADM to what their responsibilities are as a property owner with a significant historic designation," Higgins said.

ADM, in a statement, said the large hole in the flat brick northern wall, exposing large steel bins, posed a safety hazard, including to workers in its flour mill next door.

"The structure suffered substantial and extensive damage from the wind and storms over the weekend, and now poses significant safety concerns on-site and at adjacent properties and roadways," ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson said.

The City of Buffalo landmark was built in 1897 and operated for nearly a century. Saturday's windstorm tore a hole in the northern wall, but the grain elevator is not in danger of collapse.

"Our primary concern is always the safety of the public, our neighbor and our employees," Anderson added. "Under the circumstances, we have submitted an emergency demolition application to the city."

Higgins said the storm gave ADM a pretense to demolish a building they've never wanted, even though the company knowingly purchased the building three years after the city designated it a local landmark.

ADM tried to demolish the Great Northern, at 250 Ganson St., in 1996 and again in 2003.

"This is a great opportunity for ADM to do what they've wanted to do for three decades," Higgins said.

The demolition application cited a recent engineer and others over the years who have voiced concerns that the structure is unstable and a safety hazard.

"All of the engineers have concluded that the structure was not designed or built to withstand what are now understood to be wind loads in its location, and that there is no safe or feasible way to remedy those design deficiencies," the application said.

"The brick exterior walls are far too high, too thin and are unsupported," it said. "And because the building is over 120 years old, the mortar throughout has degraded. In addition, the corrugated panel sheeting on the cupola is corroding and pieces are being periodically blown off the structure by the wind, causing potentially life-threatening debris falls.

"The unavoidable conclusion is that the only way to protect the public from the dangers of an inevitable further catastrophic collapse, or the ongoing scattering of debris being blown off the structure by high winds, would be a safe and immediate demolition."

The Great Northern, which began operation in 1897 and was last used in 1981, suffered a similar-sized hole in the north wall in 1907 from 84 mph winds that was safely repaired, according to the Buffalo Courier-Express.

The grain elevator is celebrated by grain elevator enthusiasts and preservationists for being a rare steel-bin elevator and the only brick-box elevator believed to be standing. It once was the largest grain elevator in the country.

"There is no justification for taking down the steel bins, the steel framework or the roof, or much of the brick walls," said Tim Tielman, executive director of Campaign for Greater Buffalo.

Tielman, who has written about the city's grain elevators, said the brick wall was weather-protective sheathing and the damage to it doesn't threaten the building's structural integrity.

"The brick doesn't support the elevator structurally," he said. "The steel bins support themselves, and they and the framework are structurally independent, so the elevator itself is in no danger of collapse."

Tielman said he hopes the city will use its own review process for historic properties in considering the demolition request.

"There has to be time for independent evaluations of this to happen, which is why the Preservation Board review process exists," Tielman said.

ADM said in the statement that it would "look for ways to preserve the legacy of the structure, such as donating artifacts to a local museum."

But Higgins said ADM should take advantage of historic tax credits and other resources available to the company to make the necessary repairs.

"They have to fix what they own, and what they own right now is a liability," Higgins said. "That liability has to be repaired."

Jessie Fisher, executive director of Preservation Buffalo Niagara, said the demolition of the Great Northern would be a terrible mistake.

"The grain elevators are one of Buffalo's key defining characteristics, and the Great Northern is completely unique," said Fisher, co-author of "Reconsidering Concrete Atlantis," a publication about grain elevators.

Repeated requests to speak with Jim Comerford, Buffalo's commissioner of Inspections and Permits, went unheeded.

In the early evening, Mike DeGeorge, Mayor Byron Brown's spokesman, said in a statement that "Commissioner Comerford is reviewing the company's statement along with a drone inspection video to assess the extent of the damage."

The Brown administration is planning a drone inspection Monday to evaluate damage done to the historic Great Northern grain elevator after powerful winds Saturday tore a large hole in the northern wall, knocking out a significant part of the flat brick shell that covers the building's steel bins.

The grain elevator, owned by ADM Milling Co., a division of commodities giant Archers Daniel Midland at 250 Ganson St., opened for business in 1897 and was last used in 1981. It sits next to a flour mill that was added later and is still in operation.

The Great Northern is celebrated by elevator enthusiasts and preservationists for being a rare steel-bin elevator and the only brick-box elevator believed to be standing. It once was the largest grain elevator in the country.

"To some it's just a hulking brick building," said Gwen Howard, who chairs the Buffalo Preservation Board. "But it is critically important in terms of the architectural legacy of our community."

Grain elevators, including the Great Northern (center right), which was the largest in the world when it was built in 1897, fill the skyline at the end of Michigan Street near the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino. Photo taken May 31, 2020.

A similar-sized hole in the north wall from high winds occurred once before – on Jan. 20, 1907, from 84-mile-per-hour gusts, and was safely rebuilt. That occurred during a period when the grain elevator was known as the Mutual Elevator, according to the former Buffalo Courier-Express.

James Comerford, who heads the city's Department of Inspections and Permits, said in a statement Sunday that "we were out there yesterday and today. We are having a drone inspection tomorrow to determine the extent of the damage."

Tim Tielman, who edited the 1990 book "Buffalo's Waterfront: A Guide" that highlighted the grain elevators and wrote the landmark application when the Great Northern was locally landmarked, said the brick wall was weather-protective sheathing and the damage to it doesn't threaten the building's structural integrity.

"The brick doesn't support the elevator structurally," Tielman said. "The steel bins support themselves, and they and the framework are structurally independent, so the elevator itself is in no danger of collapse."

The one-of-a-kind colossus was locally landmarked in April 1990 by the City of Buffalo in response to an attempt by Pillsbury Co. to tear it down. ADM acquired the building in 1993 and tried to have it demolished in 1996 and again in 2003. A spokesman for Illinois-based ADM did not return a message to comment on Sunday.

The Great Northern is considered eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Any modification to the property needs to come before the Buffalo Preservation Board, with the exception of an emergency demolition, which could be ordered by the city's Department of Inspections and Permits.

It's up to that department to maintain vigilance on inspections and citations and then the court process, but with the office closed until Monday it wasn't possible to find out what the inspection record has been there.

Bricks strewn from the Great Northern grain elevator after 70-mph winds battered the building.

"ADM bought the complex with full knowledge and eyes wide open that it was a City of Buffalo landmark," said Tielman, who is also executive director of the Campaign for Greater Buffalo. "They are aware of the rarity of the building and consequently that when it was built it was an American engineering marvel.

The City of Buffalo shared video of the damage caused by the windstorm on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. In the clip, Department of Public Works deputy commissioner Andy Rabb speaks on the cleanup of a tree that toppled on two houses on Lakeview Avenue in Buffalo. Main still photo taken by Mark Mulville/Buffalo News.

"They have a civic responsibility and they need to fix the building," Tielman said.

Howard, on the Preservation Board during her first go-around with the board when ADM tried to demolish it, said the demolition of the building would be a real loss.

"It's unique, the last of its kind and it set the stage for every other grain elevator that is a symbol of how we in Buffalo became who we are," she said.

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