File photos by Tom Rivers – The Sandstone Trust provides some funding to Old Tyme Christmas celebration in Medina, which includes the Parade of Lights. The Medina Fire Department decorated its ladder truck for the parade last Nov. 29.

Press Release
Medina Sandstone Society

MEDINA – Medina area residents can be proud of their five years of support for the Sandstone Trust. The community endowment just completed its fifth year of making small grants to local programs, projects and organizations and the total in grants over the five-year period comes to nearly $20,000.

This was reported by Michael Zelazny, chairman of the grants committee, who distributed the most recent checks in January.

“Scores of worthy projects have been supported since 2010 and the grants have covered a wide range,” said Zelazny.

He said grants run from $200 to $600 or even $1,000 in unusual cases.

A grants committee approved funding in the latest round of grants for improvements to the veterans plot at Boxwood Cemetery, to the Medina Business Association for Old-Tyme Christmas, emergency dollars to fix porch damage at the Medina Historical Museum, dollars to The Arc of Orleans toward kitchen equipment for Camp Rainbow, support for Medina’s Civil War Re-Enactment in April, stone repair from frost damage at the Armory (“Y”), and continuation of student scholarships.

Over the past five years about 40 grants have been approved by a citizen selection committee which operates under Zelazny.

“Late each autumn we invite grant applications and even though the amounts given are small they are genuinely helpful to projects having a limited scope,” he said.

Zelazny gave a smattering of typical grants. Money for the local library to continue digitizing historic hometown newspapers, help to the local Historical Society for winterizing, help for the Parade of Lights in the village, dollars to the YMCA for stonework repairs and interior up-grading, help to the Orleans Renaissance Group in placing 11 historical plaques downtown for delight of tourists.

The Sandstone Trust provided some funds for the restoration of this wood frame chapel in the Millville Cemetery. The chapel has a Medina sandstone foundation. It was built into a hill and also served as a receiving vault and office.

The Trust has also provided funding to help in restoring a historic building at Millville Cemetery, support of yearly concerts through the Arts Council, help to Arc of Orleans for client trips and for Nutri-Fare, help to the Medina Business Association for installation of a downtown sound system, assistance to Orleans County Christian School, a Head-Start school on Ensign Avenue and family programs at Medina Junior High School, aid to Community Action for a literacy program, support to GCASA for a program called “Healthy Me” and to Hospice for its new Albion building.

When the Sandstone Trust was officially created in 2009, the society used an obsolete economic development fund which was inactive and in danger of being seized. A contract was written with the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo for financial management, a practice given by CFGB to over 800 such endowments. That management has been trustworthy, according to Zelazny, and the original $18,000 in seed money has multiplied five-fold.

In addition to Zelazny’s grant committee, a group of officers from the board of the Sandstone Society oversees the general plan and it includes Craig C. Lacy, Margaret J. Schreck, David C. Schubel, Robert E. Waters and Timothy J. Moriarty.

The founders of the Trust have had some “high spots” of success over the five years. In the summer of 2010, with the aid of a downtown thermometer, the Trust took in $35,000 in six weeks.

Annual donations to the Medina Sandstone Trust can be made at any time to the society c/o Post Office Box 25, Medina. Gifts offer a total tax deduction.

Congregation sought measure as way to protect building

File photos by Tom Rivers – St. John’s Episcopal Church was built in 1832, making it the oldest remaining church in Orleans County. The church was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not as “The church in the middle of the street.” Church Street splits by the church near the intersection with East Center Street (Route 31).

MEDINA – The Medina Village Board approved local landmark status on Monday for St. John’s Episcopal Church, a designation that will require any exterior alterations to the building to get Village Planning Board approval.

The church requested the designation for the building, which opened in 1832. It is Orleans County’s oldest remaining church. It was built with Medina sandstone before there were any commercial quarries.

This is the first Medina church outside a historic district to be declared a landmark. The Presbyterian Church is part of the downtown business district that is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The local designation could pave the way for St. John’s to pursue inclusion on the state and national registers of historic places.

Medina Mayor Andrew Meier praised the Episcopal congregation for seeking the local landmark status.

“I’m glad to see the church sees the merits in doing this,” Meier said at Monday’s Village Board meeting. “It is one of the oldest structures in the county.”

The village about five years ago sought to have other churches near the downtown district be declared local landmarks, but the First Baptist, United Methodist and St. Mary’s Catholic Church all opposed the move, saying they feared the designation could saddle them, making building upkeep more costly.

“I’m hopeful some of the other churches will follow suit,” Martin Busch, the village’s code enforcement officer, said after Monday’s meeting. “There is no reason to feel threatened. It’s a recognition of the historic significance of the building to a community.”

File photos by Tom Rivers – Massive Medina sandstone pillars are at the entrance of Boxwood Cemetery with a sandstone chapel from 1903 in the background. The State Parks Department nominated the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places on Thursday.

MEDINA – In 1849, Medina resident David Card expressed his dying wish: “to be buried on the hill north of Medina.” Card got his wish, and his burial was the catalyst for establishing Boxwood Cemetery.

The 20-acre site has become the final resting place for 5,000 people. It is also a distinctive example of several cemetery movements. It was originally established in the Rural Cemetery manner in 1850. The cemetery on North Gravel Road (Route 63) grew in size, and later sections were added in the Lawn Park and Memorial Park styles. The State Parks Department on Thursday nominated the cemetery for the National Register of Historic Places.

The National Park Service, through the U.S. Department of the Interior, will have final say on the cemetery’s inclusion on the Register. If it is approved, it would be the fourth cemetery in Orleans County to make the National Register, following Mount Albion Cemetery, Millville Cemetery in Shelby and Hillside Cemetery in Holley and Clarendon.

The listing gives the sites better access to grants and funding for preservation initiatives.

Boxwood reflects the changing and developing tastes in cemetery design from the mid 19th Century to the late 20th Century, according to the State Parks Department.

Boxwood Cemetery was built on a hill just outside the village. Drawing from contemporary English romantic landscape design ideas, Rural Cemeteries such as Boxwood utilized varied topography, curving drives for carriages and separate pedestrian pathways.

“At Boxwood Cemetery, the basic principles of these design trends, such as the rolling landscape and individual fenced family plots typical of Rural Cemeteries and later the emphasis on the unbroken lawn landscape, were translated for the size and resources of the growing Medina community,” according to the National Register nomination. “As the cemetery grew in size throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Boxwood Cemetery looked to the latest theories and ideas about cemetery design, designing subsequent additions reflective of this evolution.”

The cemetery includes many prominent residents who made an impact locally and beyond. Among those listed in the National Register nomination, include:

Don Bent, who established the local opera house that was a major center of civic, educational, and social affairs in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Charles Newton Hood, who ran the opera house and was also a newspaperman.

Edward Davey, an award-winning carriage maker.

Albert L. Swett (gravesite pictured), a prominent businessman who helped put Medina on the map with his company, Swett Iron Works. He is also responsible for bringing electric power to Medina by damming Oak Orchard Creek, located just to the east behind Boxwood Cemetery, thus creating Glenwood Lake as a reservoir to run his electric-generating plant.

John Ryan, who opened the first commercial quarry of Medina sandstone.

Levan Merritt, a successful businessman who helped lay out Boxwood Cemetery.

W.B. Robbins, part owner of a foundry and four-time village president.

Silas M. Burroughs, a general in the New York State Militia, a state assemblyman, and a representative in the U.S. Congress.

Henry A. Childs, a Supreme Court Justice for the Western District of New York.

Irving L’Hommedieu, a state senator.

Edwin Franklin Brown, a wounded Civil War veteran who went on to be the military mayor of Vicksburg, MS during Reconstruction and then became the inspector general of the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. A hospital in Dayton, OH, was named in his honor.

Major General John S. Thompson, who as a captain during World War I was decorated with the British Distinguished Conduct Medal, Belgian Medal, French Service Cross and United States Medal.

George Shattuck, whose books on penmanship were used throughout the world.

Boxwood Cemetery is characteristic of the Rural Cemetery movement. Prior to that movement, most burial grounds tended to be in church yards and associated with a specific denomination, according to Boxwood’s National Register nomination. Rural Cemeteries created a non-sectarian burial place that emphasized romantic associations with picturesque, park-like natural landscapes.

The Village of Medina has owned and maintained Boxwood since it was formally established in 1850.

For more information on Boxwood, click here to see its National Register nomination.

Our Sandstone Heritage

Photos by Tom Rivers – The Annunciation Church looms large on Lafayette Avenue in Buffalo.

BUFFALO – I admit I was a little lost in Buffalo on Saturday. But suddenly I felt like I was back in Orleans County.

On Lafayette Avenue there is a Catholic church that looks almost identical to St. Mary’s in Medina. I parked at St. Mary’s on Saturday morning to go cover the 5K race in Medina. A few hours later I was looking at St. Mary’s twin.

St. Mary’s in Medina looks a lot like Annunciation, except in Medina the taller tower is on the opposite side.

I was in Buffalo for a book event at The Buffalo History Museum. I was one of 75 local authors there.

I was antsy for much of the event because I wanted to get out and explore. Buffalo is a Medina sandstone powerhouse. After the book event, I went over to the Richardson Olmsted Complex to get some new photos. This site is being remodeled to become a hotel and conference center. It’s one of the great sandstone structures in the region.

I could see a church steeple in the distance and it appeared to be a sandstone building. But I didn’t find that church. Instead I was passing along Lafayette Avenue when I encountered the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church at 257 Lafayette Ave.

The cornerstone of this church was set in 1898. It was erected in 1900-1901. 

It has two spires just like St. Mary’s, and has the Gothic Revival architectural style. However, Annunciation is a little different. It has the taller spire on the left side, where St. Mary’s is taller on the right. Otherwise, the look very much alike.

I did a little research and they were both designed by the same architect, Albert A. Post, a leading ecclesiastical architect and also a devote Catholic. He designed many Catholic churches in the Buffalo area and in Ontario, Canada.

The Annunciation site, part of Our Lady of Hope Parish, includes a school, rectory and convent. I like the old doors at these churches.

Annunciation even has distinctive door knockers.

St. Mary’s was built at the turn of the century during Medina’s boom years. City Hall and railroad depot also were built in this era.

The church served a primarily Irish congregation when it opened. St. Mary’s was designed in a Fourteenth Century English Gothic style.

Construction of St. Mary’s in Medina started in 1902. The church was dedicated and consecrated July 10, 1904. The north tower is 170 feet high with the south tower at 100 feet.

St. Mary’s was one of six sites to make the first class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.

Our Sandstone Heritage

Photos by Tom Rivers

The Richmond Memorial Library opened in April 1889 on Ross Street in Batavia. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The building features outstanding stone carvings, including this face.

BATAVIA – The initial design for the Richmond Memorial Library wasn’t good enough for Mary Richmond, wife of the late Dean Richmond. In 1887, she announced a plan to pay for a new public library in Batavia as a memorial to her son, Dean Richmond Jr.

She offered to pay $9,000 for the project. After seeing the design, she wanted more for the community and upped the contribution to $24,000. The new library opened in April 1889. Richmond spared no expense in what many consider one of Batavia’s finest public buildings.

The site utilizes gray Medina sandstone and red sandstone from Albion. It was built in a Richardson Romanesque style, with rounded windows and arches.

Dean Richmond made a fortune in the railroad industry. When he died his estate was valued at $1.5 million. His wife, known for her charity and business acumen, expanded the value of the Richmond estate to $6 million.

Her husband was an advocate for the public education system. The new library was donated to the school district and utilized leading architects and the finest building materials around.

The stone workers created this elaborate and ornamental sign out of stone. The library name is entwined in a leafy vine.

Henry H. Richardson designed several libraries in the Boston area. The Batavia library emulates the style of many of the Richardson libraries. Richardson also was a big fan of Medina sandstone, using it in the State Capitol building in Albany and the Richardson Olmsted Complex, originally the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.

For more on the history of the Batavia library, click here.

The faces carved in stone have endured 125 years since the library opened in 1889.

Orleans Hub in June featured another public library made of Medina sandstone. The James Prendergast Library has been an iconic structure in the city of Jamestown since it opened in 1891, two years after the Richmond Memorial Library in Batavia.

Here is a picture of the Jamestown library, which also has many Romanesque features with arches and rounded windows.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The former New York State Asylum for the Insane, built in 1870, was abandoned and neglected. It will be receive $69 million in renovations and be turned into a hotel and conference center.

BUFFALO – A building in Buffalo that may be one of the finest Medina sandstone structures ever built is getting new life as the “Hotel Henry.”

The owners of the former New York State Asylum for the Insane announced on Monday the site will be known as the Hotel Henry, a tribute to famed architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, who designed the structure on Forest Avenue.

The not-for-profit Richardson Center Corporation has pursued a reuse plan for the complex since it was formed in 2006. For many years prior, committed preservationists, elected officials, and community members focused attention on the decades of neglect and deterioration.

The site will receive $69 million renovations and open at Hotel Henry with 88 rooms in the fall 2016. The site will also be a conference center and restaurant.

This project will keep Medina sandstone in the news for years to come. Members of the Medina Sandstone Society inducted the Richardson Olmsted Complex as an inaugural member in the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.

The Sandstone Society has asked that the center for architecture in the complex include a display about Medina sandstone and immigrant quarrymen who worked in the sandstone quarries in Orleans County.

The building is a National Historic Landmark. Richardson worked with prominent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to develop the site, which includes 42 acres and collection of buildings known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex. It is nationally recognized as a great work of the two masters.

For more on the project, click here.

Provided photo – St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, Pa., towers 265 feet and remains a dominant part of the city skyline.

MEDINA – Eleven sites, some soaring 200 feet or higher, have joined the list of nominations for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.

Some of the nominees are huge and breathtaking in their size. St. Peter’s Cathedral in Erie, Pa., takes up about three city blocks. It towers more than 265 feet.

“It is truly a magnificent structure with massive amounts of Medina sandstone,” Jim Hancock, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee, said during a nomination reception on Thursday.

The church was built in 1894. It was the first site outside New York State to make the list of nominees.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The First Presbyterian Church in Albion, shown during a winter storm last February, has endured many Western New York winters.

Three sites were nominated from Orleans County: First Presbyterian Church in Albion, built in 1874; the former St. Rocco’s Catholic Church (now Cornerstone Christian Church), built by Italian immigrants in Hulberton in 1906; and Robin Hill Manor, a residence completed in 1952 by William Smith in Lyndonville.

Several locations in Buffalo also were nominated: The Asbury-Delaware Church (now known as Babeville), built in 1876 and now a performing arts venue and events center owned by singer Ani DiFranco; the Olmsted Circles at the Buffalo parks, built in 1876; the Buffalo Crematory from 1885; and the W.H. Gratwick House, built in 1888 but torn down in 1919. (Because it was demolished it wouldn’t be included in the Hall of Fame).

John Slack, a member of the Hall of Fame Committee, discusses the Olmsted Circles, which have been nominated for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.

Two sites were nominated in Jamestown. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was constructed from 1892 to 1894. The site includes a tower with a clock on four faces, as well as the city’s only chime bells. The Prendergast family funded the church project.

That family also paid for Jamestown’s public library. The James Prendergast Free Library opened in 1891. The building consumes an entire city block on Cherry Street. The library has rounded arches, a turret on the southeast corner and stone steps that were cut from a single stone to help the steps weather the harsh winter climate.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Prendergast Library in Jamestown is one of two sites from Jamestown nominated for the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame.

The HOF Committee traveled to Central New York to visit the Sonnenberg Mansion in Canandaigua. The Queen Anne-style mansion was built from 1885 to 1887 and has 40 rooms. The Sonnenberg Mansion and its gardens are now a part of the New York State Parks Department.

Provided photo – The Sonnenberg Mansion is now part of the NY State Park Department. The 40-room mansion was completed in 1887.

The nominated sites join 15 holdovers from 2013 for consideration for the Hall of Fame. Six inaugural sites were enshrined last December. The second class will be inducted in the spring.

“We can be proud of the Medina Sandstone Society for recognizing the beautiful sandstone buildings that have been erected from Orleans County stone,” said Kathy Blackburn, director of the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce.

During a reception Thursday at the Medina Theatre, she praised the Sandstone Society for working to preserve and promote the Medina Sandstone heritage. The Sandstone Society also gives out annual grants for local community projects.

Jennifer Wells-Dickerson speaks about her great-grandfather, Pasquale DiLaura of Albion, who kept the sandstone industry alive from 1920 to the 1960s.

Thursday’s reception included a feature about Pasquale DiLaura. When the sandstone industry was struggling in 1920, he opened a quarry in Clarendon and lined up work for the stone masons. DiLaura led the crews that built the Hamlin Beach State Park. He taught the young men in the Civilian Conservation Corps how to cut stone. Many of those structures endure about 80 years after they were built.

DiLaura’s stone also was used for the Lake Ontario State Parkway and many other local projects. His great-granddaughter, Jennifer Wells-Dickerson, shared his story during the reception on Thursday. She said she is working on a book about DiLaura.

Provided photo – Contractors are replacing decayed timber and replacing it with steel beams at the southeast corner of the Bent’s Opera House in Medina.

Photo by Tom Rivers – The Bent’s Opera House is a landmark on Main Street in Medina. This photo was taken on Friday.

MEDINA – The rotted wooden beams in the southeast corner of the Bent’s Opera House are being replaced with steel beams, which will strengthen the building and stop the sagging at that corner of the historic structure.

The opera house was built during the Civil War in 1864. The Orleans Renaissance Group owns the site and moved to replace the rotted wood after an engineering assessment last year showed the work was critical.

The main structural support timbers had decayed due to water infiltration. The ORG secured a $100,000 emergency loan from the Preservation League of New York State for the project.

The original wooden beam also decayed due to water infiltration. ORG will replace the decayed section of the wood beam with new steel. Once the steel is in, a mason will remortar the stone wall.

ORG will reconstruct the missing masonry walls from footers below the basement up to the beam that supports the second- and third-story stone façade. The projects should be done by the end of the year.

ORG will also have a contractor use new mortar to rebuild and repoint some of the existing stone. The projects could be done by the end of the year.

ORG has plans for Phase 2 at Bent’s. That will include restoration of the original three storefronts using decorative cast-iron columns and cornice. The Village Planning Board in August approved a certificate of appropriateness for that work.

Site is one of great Medina sandstone structures

Photos by Tom Rivers – The twin copper-roofed towers of Medina sandstone rise high above Forest Avenue in Buffalo. The Richardson Olmsted Complex has been a massive Buffalo landmark since 1872.

BUFFALO – Medina sandstone is back in the news again. One of the greatest Medina sandstone structures, the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center, is the focus of a $69 million redevelopment in Buffalo.

A site that had been largely abandoned will be reborn as a boutique hotel, conference center and architecture center.

State and city officials, as well as project developers, celebrated the start of construction on the project on Oct. 10. Over the next two years contractors will turn the Richardson Olmsted Complex into an 88-room hotel, a 300-plus seat conference and event center, an architecture center for Buffalo in the three main buildings, and the re-greening of the site through a new landscape and roadway.

“The reimagined Richardson Olmsted Complex will create a new venue for business events and a new place in Western New York for visitors to explore,” Gov. Cuomo said. “We’re proud to have helped with the redevelopment of this complex, which is another great example of Buffalo’s continued momentum.”

The Richardson Olmsted Complex, the former Buffalo Psychiatric Center, is being renovated into a hotel and architecture center. The complex is made of Medina sandstone and was designed by Henry H. Richardson, the first American architect to attain international acclaim.

This National Historic Landmark is a masterpiece of the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, along with his partner Calvert Vaux. The 42 acres and collection of buildings known as the Richardson Olmsted Complex is nationally recognized as a great work of these two masters and locally admired for the monumental presence and iconic copper towers.

The not-for-profit Richardson Center Corporation has pursued a reuse plan for the complex since it was formed in 2006. For many years prior, committed preservationists, elected officials, and community members focused attention on the decades of neglect and deterioration.

The redevelopment will include opportunities for Western New York residents to enjoy the South Lawn, eat at the restaurant and visit the architecture center, which will celebrate excellence in architecture, landscape architecture and city planning as influenced by Buffalo’s outstanding architectural heritage. It will also include exhibits and programming that honors the mental health, architectural and landscape history of the site.

The Medina Sandstone Society named the Richardson Olmsted Complex as an inaugural member of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame last December.

The two-year construction period will begin with exterior work on the windows, roof, ready the north entry for replacement entry, and masonry. Next year, the site work and interior build out will begin. The hotel, conference and event spaces, as well as the Buffalo Architecture Center, are all expected to open in Fall 2016.

Considerable effort also has been made to be true to the original landscape design intent by world-renowned landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted. Stabilization activities totaling $10 million have taken place to prevent further deterioration and vandalism of the nearly 500,000 square feet of buildings.

The Richardson Center Corporation is now undertaking the renovation as the developer of this first phase. The $69 million construction project is funded with $54 million in state support and will leverage $15 million in state and federal Historic Tax Credits. The Richardson Center Corporation’s investor for the historic tax credits is M&T Bank. In addition, Empire State Development provided grants for the preconstruction, stabilization and re-greening activities.

“The Richardson Olmsted Complex is the third jewel in the crown of Buffalo’s rich architecture, along with the Guaranty Building and the Darwin Martin House,” said Stanford Lipsey, chairman of the Richardson Center Corporation. “Its reuse will play a vital role in continuing the impressive growth of our region’s economic resurgence, and would not have been possible without the outstanding leadership of the board and the investment of New York State.”