Frank Lloyd Wright Series #2: Larkin Building
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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This is the second cache in a series highlighting the local
structures designed by world famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Inside is a clue which will lead you to a final cache location.
Be sure to write this clue down so you can find the final.
Note to cachers: You DO NOT need to climb the embankment behind the
pillar to find this cache.
Editing to add: It seems that a few cachers have mistaken the
Larkin Building remains for the large warehouse to the south of the
site. The Larking Building this cache focuses on has been
demolished and the only part that remains is the pillar where the
cache is located.
One of Wright's first public building commission was the Larkin
Company Administration Building that was completed between 1903 and
1905. The Larkin Company was a mail order business that
manufactured soap, household goods, furniture, food, drugs and many
other items. The building cost $4 million to build, but with the
money pouring into the Larkin Company at such a fast rate, this was
not a problem.
The building was constructed of dark red brick with pink tinted
mortar. At five stories high, the main building was attached to an
annex of approximately three stories. The entire roof was paved
with brick and served as a recreation area for the building's
employees, their families and guests.
The interior consisted of a five-story central court, surrounded by
balconies. The upper level contained a kitchen, bakery, dining
rooms, classrooms, a branch of the Buffalo Public Library,
restrooms, a roof garden, and a conservatory. The Larking building
was completely revolutionary for its time. Most obviously it was
one of the first buildings to use a form of air conditioning that
was integral to its design. The main pillars would circulate air
through them and treat them with a water mist to cool and cleanse
the air as it flowed into the rest of the building. The building
was designed with both elevators and stairways.
It was among the first buildings to use metal furniture instead of
wood. The flooring was made of magnesite which was very quiet and
also fireproof. Magnesite is a mixture of concrete, sawdust,
pigment and sometimes asbestos. Wright used it in many of his homes
of the time. Many of these features were included to help insure
that the building was fireproof.
The beginning of the end of the Larkin Administration Building can
be traced to a press release dated October 4, 1939. In this
article, J. Crate Larkin, president and treasurer of the Larkin
Company, and Adam F. Eby, general retail manager, announced that
the Larkin Retail Store, located at 701 Seneca Street, would move
across the street to the Administration Building, because it had
25% more floor space. To allow for this, extensive remodeling began
inside the administration building. The marble-looking floors were
carpeted, floodlights were installed to light the central court,
and partions were created on the main and second floors to create
display rooms.
From the time of the remodeling until 1943, the Larkin Company's
sales began to decline. They began selling off buildings on the
properties they owned, until on May 24, 1943 the Larkin Building
was sold. The company that bought it had no plans for the building
although the Army had considered using it to house offices of the
War Department.
When the Larkin Company's lease ran out nine months later, no
further action was taken and the building became abandoned. The
city took it over in a tax foreclosure for $104,616 on June 15,
1945. For nearly the next two years, the city marketed the
building, but nobody submitted any worthwhile offers. Throughtout
1947, the building was suggested for use by various government
agencies for office space or document storage, but still nothing
came to fruition. By October 1947, the building was virtually
unusable. Every double-paned window was broken, the iron gate had
fallen off its rusted hinges, and the iron fence surrounding the
building was sacrificed for a wartime scrap collection.
Various purchase options were submitted to the city by local
realtors in 1948, and all those deals fell through. In April 1949,
Councilman Joseph F. Dudzick suggested to the city council that the
building could be used as a recreation center. Unfortunately the
resolution was defeated.
Four months later, on August 20, 1949, with an assessment value of
$128,960, another offer to purchase the Larkin Building was
disclosed by the Hunt Business Agency for an undisclosed client.
The client planned to purchase the building for $5,000, demolish
it, and construct a "taxable improvement" costing "not less than
100,000" within the next year and a half.
On September 13, 1949, the Council approved the $5000 offer without
even finding out with whom they were dealing. On October 8, 1949 it
was revealed that the buyer was The Western Trading Corporation.
The corporation estimated that it would cost $100,000 to demolish
the building. It was noted that everything removable had been
stripped by vandals, including twenty tons of copper, light
fixtures, door knobs, plumbing, and even the boards used to keep
the vandals out. Final sale was made on November 15,1949.
Even though the Larkin Building was vacant for seven years, public
outcry began only after demolition announcements were made.
Demolition of the Larkin Administration Building by the Morris and
Reimann wrecking contractors of Buffalo began in late February 1950
and was completed in July 1950. The extrodinarily long period of
time for demolition was due to the fact that the building was
"built to last forever." The floors of each story were made of
ten-inch thick reinforced concrete in slabs seventeen feet wide and
thirty-four feet long. The floors were supported by twenty-four
inch steel beams, which are now shoring up coal mines in West
Virginia, and the bricks and stone were used to fill the Ohio
Basin.
One year after demolition in May 1951, the Western Trading Company
announced pans to build a truck terminal on the site. On November
24, 1951, the Western Trading Company petitioned the Common Council
to allow them to change the site of their proposed truck terminal
from the Larkin site to a lot at Elk and Dole Streets, because "it
was less crowded." They also stated that if they did build on the
Larkin site, a valuable parking lot for the customers and employees
of the Larkin Terminal Warehouse would be lost. Three days later,
the Common Council agreed to the proposal and now a parking lot now
stands on the site of Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest contribution to
Buffalo.
The last remaining pillar of the Larkin Company Office building had
been crumbling for years. Wright fans had been chipping away at it
to get authentic bricks. The only way to stop this was to restore
the pillar in a way that made it finished and complete. The pillar
was dedicated during the Larkin Expo in early August of 2003 and a
plaque was added later commemorating this once great building.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)