By Jennifer Tebo

Gov. George E. Pataki, in a July press release announced two new boards will lead the rehabilitation of the H. H. Richardson Complex.

•  One board will allocate funding and oversee renovations for the complex

•  The other will lead the creation of the new Buffalo Architecture Center, which will be located in the towers of the complex.

Everyone involved is a volunteer, with a diverse membership from education to public service and the private sector, said Clinton E. Brown, president of Clinton Brown Co. Architecture.

Brown is one of the board members of the historic preservation panel. His firm’s focus is to revitalize community landmarks throughout upstate New York.

“We will be looking for ways to engage more volunteers, too, especially Buffalo State College students,” Brown said.

Pataki five years ago approved a $100 million grant to go toward the renovation of the Richardson complex, but there is no definite plan on who should take residence on the property, Lipsey said.

“We are still in the formative stages, we don’t have any money and we’ve only had a couple of meetings since the board was appointed. Before we do anything we have to get an engineering study for the property, because if someone wanted to come and develop it they are going to want to know the condition of the building and if it is usable,” Lipsey said.

The towers are set aside for a definite plan for the Architecture Center and the developers will not destroy anything that has a historic aspect to it, he said.

“We are going to rehabilitate the inside hopefully to have exhibits and that sort of thing there,” Lipsey said.

The appointees’ vision for the historic landmark also includes:

• Rehabilitating Richardson’s buildings and restoring the Olmsted’s ground as near as possible to their original state.

• Creating a first-class Buffalo Architecture Center in the towers that would serve as the focal point for further study of the city’s and region’s restored period architecture and cultural facilities.

• Creating new educational programs, which when combined with BSC, would result in advancing ideas and programs in elementary, secondary and post secondary education.

• Integrating these initiatives with the new Burchfield-Penny Art Center and the existing Buffalo Psychiatric Center.

There is $57.5 million left from the $100 million for the complex and $20 million for the Architecture Center, Lipsey said. The board is trying to get the governor to make an outright grant for the money.

“If he does that then some of that money I think can be used for engineering studies,” he said.

Other members of the historic preservation panel are:

• Muriel Howard, president of Buffalo State College

• Stanford Lipsey, publisher of the Buffalo News

• Bernadette Castro, state commissioner of parks, recreation and historic preservation

• Paul F. Ciminelli, president and CEO of Ciminelli Development Co.

• Howard Zemsky, president of Taurus Capital Partners

• Richard Tobe, commissioner of Buffalo’s Department of Economic Development, and permits and inspection services

• Christopher Greene, a Buffalo attorney who has served as chairman of the Hauptman-Woodward Research Institute.

• Eva M. Hassett, former chief of staff to Mayor Masiello

• Paul A. Hojnacki, a businessman and community leader

Members of the Architecture and Visitor Center Board are:

• Lipsey

• Greene

• Zemsky

• Louis Grachos, director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery

• Robert Kresse, chairman of the Niagara River Greenway Commission, secretary and trustee of the Wendt Foundation and chairman of the Martin House Restoration Corp.

Jennifer Tebo can be reached at teboj27@verizon.net

Photos courtesy of Chuck LaChiusa, http://ah.bfn.org/a/forest/400/index.html

and Kevin Hayes, http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=richardson&w=97551261%40N00

Links: http://ah.bfn.org/a/archs/rich/richbiog.html