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Willert Park Courts

A.D. Price Courts
Threatened
  • Modern Movement
  • Identity of Building/Site
  • General Description

Willert Park Courts

NW Aerial view of the original design for Willert Park Courts.

Credit

United States Housing Authority; Center for Urban Planning, State University of New York at Buffalo, date: 8/12/39

Site overview

Willert Park Courts, completed in 1939 with a later addition completed in 1944, were designed for African Americans from the start and remained as such throughout its years of occupancy. Frederick C. Backus, a local architect, was brought in to design the project. His design called for ten buildings containing close to 175 residential units, situated mostly parallel around a central courtyard. This was one of the first public housing developments to incorporate such an arrangement and a wide use of green space. To give the design an aesthetic other than the brick façade, Backus worked with Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan from the Federal Arts Program to design sculptures with the theme of work and working class life. The tinted concrete panels, situated at the entrances of each building, added a different look to the project and made it one of the first in Buffalo to involve sculpture in housing design. The complex is significant culturally, historically, socially and architecturally as the first housing complex for African Americans in Buffalo and as an early International Style design. The complex is threatened with demolition. Despite receiving approval for local landmark designation by the Buffalo Preservation Board, the Common Council denied its designation because its neighbors “were opposed to it, although they do want to see the artwork embedded in the walls preserved.”

Willert Park Courts

Willert Park Courts

Credit

Buffalo Rising

Site overview

Willert Park Courts, completed in 1939 with a later addition completed in 1944, were designed for African Americans from the start and remained as such throughout its years of occupancy. Frederick C. Backus, a local architect, was brought in to design the project. His design called for ten buildings containing close to 175 residential units, situated mostly parallel around a central courtyard. This was one of the first public housing developments to incorporate such an arrangement and a wide use of green space. To give the design an aesthetic other than the brick façade, Backus worked with Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan from the Federal Arts Program to design sculptures with the theme of work and working class life. The tinted concrete panels, situated at the entrances of each building, added a different look to the project and made it one of the first in Buffalo to involve sculpture in housing design. The complex is significant culturally, historically, socially and architecturally as the first housing complex for African Americans in Buffalo and as an early International Style design. The complex is threatened with demolition. Despite receiving approval for local landmark designation by the Buffalo Preservation Board, the Common Council denied its designation because its neighbors “were opposed to it, although they do want to see the artwork embedded in the walls preserved.”

Willert Park Courts

Bas-relief sculpture on the Willert Park Courts complex by Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan.

Credit

Buffalo Rising

Site overview

Willert Park Courts, completed in 1939 with a later addition completed in 1944, were designed for African Americans from the start and remained as such throughout its years of occupancy. Frederick C. Backus, a local architect, was brought in to design the project. His design called for ten buildings containing close to 175 residential units, situated mostly parallel around a central courtyard. This was one of the first public housing developments to incorporate such an arrangement and a wide use of green space. To give the design an aesthetic other than the brick façade, Backus worked with Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan from the Federal Arts Program to design sculptures with the theme of work and working class life. The tinted concrete panels, situated at the entrances of each building, added a different look to the project and made it one of the first in Buffalo to involve sculpture in housing design. The complex is significant culturally, historically, socially and architecturally as the first housing complex for African Americans in Buffalo and as an early International Style design. The complex is threatened with demolition. Despite receiving approval for local landmark designation by the Buffalo Preservation Board, the Common Council denied its designation because its neighbors “were opposed to it, although they do want to see the artwork embedded in the walls preserved.”

Willert Park Courts

Bas-relief panel on the Willert Park Courts complex by Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan.

Credit

Buffalo Rising

Site overview

Willert Park Courts, completed in 1939 with a later addition completed in 1944, were designed for African Americans from the start and remained as such throughout its years of occupancy. Frederick C. Backus, a local architect, was brought in to design the project. His design called for ten buildings containing close to 175 residential units, situated mostly parallel around a central courtyard. This was one of the first public housing developments to incorporate such an arrangement and a wide use of green space. To give the design an aesthetic other than the brick façade, Backus worked with Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan from the Federal Arts Program to design sculptures with the theme of work and working class life. The tinted concrete panels, situated at the entrances of each building, added a different look to the project and made it one of the first in Buffalo to involve sculpture in housing design. The complex is significant culturally, historically, socially and architecturally as the first housing complex for African Americans in Buffalo and as an early International Style design. The complex is threatened with demolition. Despite receiving approval for local landmark designation by the Buffalo Preservation Board, the Common Council denied its designation because its neighbors “were opposed to it, although they do want to see the artwork embedded in the walls preserved.”

Awards

Advocacy

Award of Excellence

Residential

2020

An Advocacy Award of Excellence is given to Preservation Buffalo Niagara and the Michigan Street Preservation Corporation who for over 15 years maintained their stance that the complex is “one of the single most historic places in the City of Buffalo.” The organizations have dedicated countless hours and resources to the preservation battle for this culturally, socially and architecturally significant resource

The jury commends and is grateful to Preservation Buffalo Niagara and the Michigan Street Preservation Corporation for rising to the occasion and taking up the long-term and ongoing effort to preserve this important piece of our history. 

-
Restoration Team

Preservation Buffalo Niagara

Michigan Street Preservation Corporation

Primary classification

Residential (RES)

Secondary classification

Neighborhoods & Urbanism (URB)

Designations

Determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places

Author(s)

Nicholas Batson | | 5/1/2014

Location

Willert Park Ct
Buffalo, NY, 14204

Country

US

Case Study House No. 21

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NW Aerial view of the original design for Willert Park Courts.

Credit:

United States Housing Authority; Center for Urban Planning, State University of New York at Buffalo, date: 8/12/39

Willert Park Courts

Credit:

Buffalo Rising

Bas-relief sculpture on the Willert Park Courts complex by Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan.

Credit:

Buffalo Rising

Bas-relief panel on the Willert Park Courts complex by Robert Cronbach and Harold Ambellan.

Credit:

Buffalo Rising

Designer(s)

Frederick C. Backus

William E. Harries

Related News

Buffalo renews push to demolish Willert Park Courts

Threatened, New York

June 27, 2020

Buffalo's Willert Park Courts to receive Modernism in America Advocacy Award

Threatened, Award, Advocacy, Modernism in America

September 16, 2020

Related Sites

Construction Period

1938-39; additional buildings completed in 1942 and 1944

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