The Buffalo Lighthouse Association has been awarded a $14,000 Preserve New York grant to fund the Historic Structures Report for the fog signal building at the 1903 South Buffalo Light Station. This is welcome news for the preservation team that has been fighting to restore the light station/fog signal building, which will one day be a unique destination for boaters, as the grounds can only be access by water at this point.
To get a better understanding of the site, and its preservation and restoration needs, I took a tour of the Light Station a couple years back (see here). The funding for this new study will, in essence, create a roadmap that will make it easier to understand the preservation process moving forward.
“We are excited about this opportunity to turn our attention from the South Buffalo Lighthouse itself to the even more historic fog signal building on the breakwater light station,” said Buffalo Lighthouse Association president Mike Vogel. “We are nearing completion of efforts to restore the exterior of the lighthouse, and this study will be the basis for the next major stage of our million-dollar preservation project.”
The historic breakwater light station is located at the south entrance to Buffalo Harbor, where it once helped to guide ships to the ore docks at the former Bethlehem Steel plant. Eventually, modern navigation technology, including an automated light (1962) at the once-manned station, signaled that times were a changin’. Unfortunately, without someone tending the station, Mother Nature had her way with the structure. The good news is that the bones of the structure are still intact, as are a number of the coveted aesthetic and mechanical features.
Since stepping up to safeguard the station a decade ago, the Association has managed to raise over $650,000, with support from the Buffalo and Erie County Standing Committee of the Niagara River Greenway, and from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Legacy Funds. That funding has been directed towards restoring the tower, which is almost complete.
Now, it’s the fog signal building that is the task at hand. According to the Association, “The building once served as the U.S. Lighthouse Service’s fog signal testing station for the Great Lakes as well as the support building for a Marconi tower that was the Great Lakes region’s first radio station.”
Along with other repairs, the compromised roof of the fog signal building must be addressed, as it supports 11-foot reflectors and trumpets.
The Historic Structures Report, being conducted by Clinton Brown Company Architecture, PC, will hopefully open some additional funding doors, including New York State and Federal Historic Tax Credits. The report will also help with ongoing station work by the nation’s leading lighthouse engineering firm, locally based ICC Commonwealth.
This latest funding development is thanks to The Preservation League of NYS and their program partners at the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.
To keep up with the progress of the South Buffalo Lighthouse and Fog Signal Building, be sure to tune into this Facebook page.
The Preserve New York program is a regrant partnership between the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Preservation League, made possible with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Get connected at preservenys.org, facebook.com/preservenys, twitter.com/preservenys, and instagram.com/preservenys, and youtube.com/c/PreservationLeague.
BUFFALO LIGHTHOUSE ASSOCIATION, INC.
P.O. Box 206, Buffalo NY 14240 / buffalolightshines@gmail.com
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