The Telephone Building 1914

Southwest corner of Pearl & Church in the 1880s. The foreground structures were demolished in 1895 for the Guaranty Building.
The two-story buildings at right were demolished later for the Telephone Building. Image source: Express Yearbook, 1916

2011 view of the same corner. The Guaranty Building is center, the Telephone Building at right.

The south side of Pearl between Franklin and Church before 1895. Image source: Express Yearbook, 1916

The same view in 2011. The Telephone Building center; the Guaranty Building at left.

The Telephone Building as completed in 1914.

Telephone service began in Buffalo in 1879 with the installation of the first telephone in Miller's Livery Stable; by 1881 there were 1,000 telephones installed in Buffalo. The Bell Telephone Company of Buffalo enjoyed a monopoly until 1902 when Frontier received city approval to establish a competing company. By 1910, the year that New York Telephone took over the Bell company in Buffalo, there were 25,000 telephones in Buffalo. New York Telephone invested over $4,000,000 in Buffalo's infrastructure, culminating with the construction of the above 16-story building at the corner of Franklin and Church

Buffalo Mayor Louis P. Fuhrmann, with Chamber of Commerce president H.A. Meldrum beside him, made the first call from the new building. He telephoned Lt. Gov. Fitzgerald in Denver, Colorado. The connection was established through Detroit, Chicago, and Omaha. After this demonstration of technical sophistication concluded, Mr. Meldrum asked and received permission to speak with his sister in Denver.

On August 1, 1918, Frontier, then known as Federal Telephone and Telegraph Company, was sold to New York Telephone, once again creating a telephone monopoly in Buffalo. At that time there were 66,000 telephones installed in Buffalo. By 1925, there were 100,000 telephones in Buffalo; by 1947, there were 200,000. The primary location of the machinery to run the system was the Telephone Building, where in 1948 it was estimated that there were 909 miles of switchboard cable, 1200 of other wire, and 2,000,000 pounds of iron, copper, lead and other metals. The predominant sound on upper floors was a continuous clicking of switches and circuits.

Postcard from the early 1920's of the new Iroquois Building at left (home of Iroquois Gas from 1913-1958) and the new Telephone Building.

2011 view. A six-story annex was constructed in 1930. The Iroquois Building site is now covered by the Rath Building housing Erie County government.

In 1961, the Telephone Building's 35-foot microwave radio antenna was replaced with an 80- foot antenna array to accomodate the growth in long-distance calls and network television transmissions. In order to accomodate the heavier antenna, the top five floors of the building had to be reinforced. Today the building still serves its original purpose, and is owned by Verizon. In 2018, restoration work has been proposed.

detail of the front facade