27-921: Kleinhans Music Hall is a concert venue located on Symphony Circle in Buffalo, New York . The hall "is renowned for its acoustical excellence and graceful architecture." Kleinhans is currently the home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra , a regular venue for the Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and is rented out for other performing groups and local events. The building was designed by father-and-son team Eliel Saarinen and Eero Saarinen , with help from local architects F. J. and W. A. Kidd, Stanley McCandless as lighting consultant, and Charles C. Potwin as acoustical adviser. Kleinhans has two performance spaces, as well as additional rooms for rehearsals or private events. It
54-479: A man by his character and ability instead of by the color of his skin." Delaware Park-Front Park System Delaware Park–Front Park System is a historic park system and national historic district in the northern and western sections of Buffalo in Erie County, New York . The park system was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux and developed between 1868 and 1876. The park system
81-426: A monument to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry . The Picnic Shelter (ca. 1900) is a contributing structure. Buffalo, New York parks system Many of the public parks and parkways system of Buffalo , New York , were originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux between 1868 and 1896. They were inspired in large part by the parkland, boulevards, and squares of Paris, France . They include
108-594: A successful men's clothing company in Buffalo at the turn of the 20th century. Upon their deaths, three months apart in 1934, they left their entire estate of around $ 1 million to the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo with the request that the funds go to the development of a music hall. Upon its completion in 1940, the cost of construction reached $ 1.5 million, and included funds from President Roosevelt 's Public Works Administration in addition to
135-623: Is a large bronze sculpture by Larry Griffiths titled Birds in Flight (1980). Formerly Bidwell Place; a 5.4-acre (2.2 ha) plot, 510 by 465 feet (155 by 142 m), at the intersection of Richmond Avenue, Bidwell Parkway, and Lafayette Avenue. The circle's center contains an equestrian statue of General Daniel D. Bidwell . Originally The Avenue; connects Symphony Circle to Colonial Circle; 100 feet (30 m) wide and 6,022 feet (1,836 m) in length. It traverses Ferry Circle at West Ferry Street. A 300-foot-diameter (91 m) circle at
162-612: Is an Important Bird Area . Also in South Buffalo is the Olmsted-designed Cazenovia and South Parks , the latter home to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens . According to the Trust for Public Land , Buffalo's 2020 ParkScore ranking showed high marks in access to parks, with 90% of city residents living within a ten-minute walk of a park. However, the city ranked lower for acreage; 7.6% of city land
189-455: Is divided into two areas: the 243-acre (98 ha) "Meadow Park" on the east and the 133-acre (54 ha) "Water Park", with what was originally a 43-acre (17 ha) lake, on the west. The 12-acre (4.9 ha) ravine and picnic grove on the south side of the lake comprise a subdivision of the latter. Olmsted dammed Scajaquada Creek to create the lake, originally called Gala Water, then Delaware Park Lake, and now known as Hoyt Lake. The lake
216-643: Is located adjacent to D'Youville College and is home to a branch of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library . The Shelter House (ca. 1908) is a contributing structure. Formerly The Front; a 32-acre (13 ha) park located at the beginning of the Niagara River and overlooking Lake Erie . The park is home to the U.S. entrance to the Peace Bridge , erected in 1927 on the site of the former Fort Porter , and includes baseball diamonds, large open playing fields, and tennis courts. The park contains
243-595: Is located on the southeast side of the circle; it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. The circle is located within the Allentown Historic District . A former city street incorporated into the parks system; connects Symphony Circle to Columbus Park and Front Park. Formerly Prospect Park; located at the intersection of Niagara Street and Porter Avenue; the site of the Connecticut Street Armory . The park
270-744: The Buffalo Zoo , Hoyt Lake, a golf course, and playing fields. Buffalo collaborated with sister city Kanazawa in Japan to create the park's Japanese Garden in 1970, where cherry blossoms bloom in the spring. Shakespeare in Delaware Park has run every year since 1976 and attracts more 40,000 visitors from across the country. Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo sits on 264 acres (107 ha) of remediated industrial land, opening in 1976. The preserve offers trails for hiking and cross-country skiing , marshland with fishing permitted, and
297-467: The National Register of Historic Places . The park is home to an exact replica of Michelangelo's David . It is 18 feet tall and weighs 3000 pounds. The statue was dedicated in 1903, one of only three bronze replicas made of the original sculpture. At one time it included a fig leaf, which was not present in the original; this was later removed so David can be viewed in all his glory. When
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#1732779925528324-490: The United States (after New York City 's). It is also the location of the Buffalo Zoo on the east side of Meadow Park. The park has a golf course, two baseball diamonds, a softball diamond, cross country running, tennis courts, and soccer fields. Contributing structures are: Caretakers Cottage (1889); Lincoln Parkway Bridge (1900), designed by Green and Wicks ; Rose Garden Pergola (1912); Stone Bridge (ca. 1887),
351-590: The $ 1 million from the Kleinhans estate. Kleinhans Music Hall opened on October 12, 1940 with an inaugural concert by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Franco Autori. In 2015, the seats of the auditorium were updated, and storage rooms were converted into an archive room to serve as an educational feature of the building's philanthropic history and architectural significance. On September 8, 1964, Robert F. Kennedy , who at
378-482: The audience in. The austere color palette and simple lines seen in the layout also serve to direct the audience to the music without distraction of ornate decoration. The Mary Seaton Room is the smaller of the two performance venues, seating up to 700 for a concert, and is well suited for chamber ensembles. Kleinhans Music Hall was named by Edward L. Kleinhans in honor of his wife, Mary Seaton Kleinhans, and his mother, Mary Livingston Kleinhans. The Kleinhans family owned
405-505: The city's grid plan by drawing inspiration from Paris , introducing landscape architecture while embracing aspects of the countryside. Their plan would introduce a system of interconnected parks, parkways and trails, unlike the singular Central Park in New York City . The largest of them would be Delaware Park , situated across the large Forest Lawn Cemetery to amplify the amount of open land planned. With construction of
432-427: The hall is such that audience members in the back rows of the balcony will have as clear and instantaneous of an auditory experience as the people in the front rows of the ground level. Charles C. Potwin employed a 1:1.3 ratio in the design of the auditorium to achieve the most ideal acoustic. While the design of the main auditorium is less conducive to reverberation, it aims to create a more intimate experience by drawing
459-408: The intersection of West Ferry Street, Massachusetts Street, and Richmond Avenue. Originally known as just The Circle. A 500-foot-diameter (150 m), 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) circle at the juncture of Porter Avenue with Richmond Avenue, North Street, Pennsylvania Street, and Wadsworth Street. Due south of the circle lies First Presbyterian Church , Buffalo's oldest congregation. Kleinhans Music Hall
486-571: The juncture of Bidwell Parkway, Lincoln Parkway, Bird Avenue, and Chapin Parkway. Frank Lloyd Wright 's William R. Heath House (1904) overlooks the circle at Bird Avenue. A 200-foot-wide (61 m), 9-acre (3.6 ha) thoroughfare, connecting Soldier's Place to Delaware Park; 1,965 feet (599 m) in length. A 200-foot-wide (61 m), 10.7-acre (4.3 ha) thoroughfare, connecting Colonial Circle to Soldier's Place; 2,323 feet (708 m) in length. At its intersection with Soldier's Place
513-631: The only remaining structure from the original Olmsted plan; Parkside Lodge (1914); Rumsey Shelter (1900); Main Zoo Building (1935–1940); Shelter House (ca. 1900); and Elephant House (ca. 1912). Located north of the park are the Parkside East Historic District and Parkside West Historic District and to the south are the Elmwood Historic District–East and Elmwood Historic District–West , all listed on
540-672: The parks, parkways and circles within the Cazenovia Park–South Park System and Delaware Park–Front Park System , both listed on the National Register of Historic Places and maintained by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy. Frederick Law Olmsted described Buffalo as being "the best planned city [...] in the United States, if not the world". With encouragement from city stakeholders, he and Calvert Vaux created an augmentation of
567-626: The statue was rededicated in 2013, it was given a new plaque which corrected the spelling of the artist's name from Michael Angelo to Michelangelo. Originally Chapin Place, a 5-acre (2.0 ha) plot measuring 500 by 420 feet (150 by 130 m) at the intersection of Delaware Avenue, Lafayette Avenue, and Chapin Parkway. The circle's center contains a monumental sunken fountain constructed in 1904. Connects Gates Circle and Soldier's Place; 1,904 feet (580 m) in length. Consists of an 8.8-acre (3.6 ha) area 700 feet (210 m) in diameter at
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#1732779925528594-456: The system finishing in 1876, it is regarded as being the oldest in the country, although some of his plans were never fully realized. In the twentieth century, the diminishing parks would be afflicted by diseases, highway construction, and weather events such as Lake Storm Aphid in 2006. In 1939, Buffalo's avenues were lined with hundreds of thousands of elm trees, maintained by the city's forestry division. The elms, which made up 60 per cent of
621-531: The time was the Democratic candidate to become a United States Senator from New York , gave a speech at Kleinhans in front of a crowd of 6,000 people. On November 9, 1967, four months after the city was rocked by the Buffalo riot , Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech at Kleinhans titled "The Future of Integration." In this speech, he proclaimed, "We are moving toward the day when we will judge
648-693: The trees, were nearly all wiped out by Dutch elm disease in the 1950s. From 1974 onwards, efforts were made to increase the tree cover, and since 2001 the city has maintained an inventory of its urban forest. The Buffalo Olmsted Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization, was created in 2004 to assist the city with protecting the 850 acres of parkland. Olmsted's work in Buffalo would inspire similar efforts in cities such as San Francisco , Chicago , and Boston . The city's Division of Parks and Recreation manages over 180 parks and facilities, seven recreational centers, 21 pools and splash pads , and three ice rinks. The 350 acres (140 ha) Delaware Park features
675-600: Was a feature during the Pan-American Exposition . The Scajaquada Expressway bisects the park west to east. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery occupies the park's western edge, overlooking Hoyt Lake, and the Buffalo History Museum is situated on its northern edge, overlooking Scajaquada Creek. The park is home to Shakespeare in Delaware Park , a summer tradition since the mid-1970s, and the second largest free outdoor Shakespeare festival in
702-495: Was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture, 49 years after its completion. Kleinhans Music Hall offers two spaces for performances, the main auditorium and the Mary Seaton Room. The main auditorium seats 2,441 (it originally accommodated 2839 seats but underwent renovations in 2015 reducing the capacity), and showcases the hall's parabolic ceiling and acoustically-informed design. The shape of
729-488: Was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Delaware Park–Front Park System encompasses the following parts: The centerpiece of the Buffalo, New York parks system and located in the North Buffalo neighborhood. The 376-acre (152 ha) park was named simply The Park by Olmsted; it was later renamed Delaware Park because of its proximity to Delaware Avenue, Buffalo's mansion row . It
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