If architecture is anything to go by, Buffalo ranks as one of the great cities of America.

That can be hard to grasp as the former industrial powerhouse tries desperately to extricate itself from the downward spiral of lost manufacturing might and shrinking population.

In 1900, Buffalo was among the 10 largest cities in the U.S. Not only was ideally located as the western terminus of the Erie Canal, it was a centre of the grain and steel industries, as well as a railroad hub. One by one these advantages were lost; the St. Lawrence Seaway rendered the Erie Canal obsolete, heavy industry moved abroad and trucks replaced trains.

But there was a time when some of the greatest architects in the U.S.A. came to the Queen City to practice their art.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, H.H. Richardson and Daniel Burnham were among the luminaries who helped shape the Buffalo skyline.

Each left behind buildings that even today — especially today — make a pilgrimage a must for architectural students and aficionados.

From, say, the 1880s through to the 1940s and ’50s, Buffalo was as engaged as any city in architecture. Indeed, architectural history was made here as the city competed with itself and other urban centres, notably Chicago and New York, to create a distinctly American architecture.

Some of the earliest skyscrapers took shape here.

Although not tall by contemporary standards, they played a seminal role is helping designers understand the nature of verticality. These days we take that for granted, but even a cursory glance through the history books reveals architecture’s long struggle to get the tall tower right.

The race upwards started in the mid-19th century with the advent of steel-frame construction and usable elevators; the sky was suddenly — and literally — the limit.

Not only did that change architecture; it changed Buffalo.

The best examples are the Guaranty Building by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler and the Ellicott Square Building by Daniel Burnham, which both date from 1895 -’96. The former, an acknowledged masterpiece, is considered a seminal project in the evolution of tower. Standing only 13 storeys high, Sullivan’s great structure nevertheless expresses a dramatic sense of tallness that made it unique at the time. Clad in richly decorated terra-cotta tiles, the tower managed to pay homage to tradition in its elongated Renaissance palazzo form while introducing a new element of specifically American verticality. A series of windowed piers reach up the side of the tower emphasizing height over horizontality.

It was Sullivan, often called the Father of the Skyscraper, who coined the phrase “form follows function.” Though many see him as a modernist precursor, his extensive use of surface embellishment reveals that there was more to him than minimalist steel-and-glass boxes.

Ellicott Square, just blocks away from the Guaranty Building, was the largest office building in the world when it opened.

Unlike the Guaranty, it looked more to the past than the future. Also inspired by Italian Renaissance archetypes, its exteriors are divided horizontally into three main sections, each with its own pattern of windows and/or arches. Organized around an extravagant glass-roofed courtyard, the building remains a unique feature in downtown Buffalo.

By contrast, the former Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane is architecture of a different age. Designed by Henry Hobson Richardson and Frederick Law Olmstead in the 1870s, it is a monumental creation of two of the greatest 19th-century American masters. Richardson, remembered for his revival of Romanesque-style architecture, and Olmstead, the landscape architect best known for New York’s Central Park, built a fortress-like complex in an extensive park complete with gardens and a 100-acre farm.

The idea, then seen as progressive, was to put patients in an environment where they could be in nature and benefit from its healing properties. The complex, though treated badly and perhaps gloomy to modern eyes, remains impressive. For Torontonians, it is reminiscent of Old City Hall, whose architect, E.J. Lennox, based his design on another Richardson project, the Allegheny Court House.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the most celebrated of all American architects, also left his mark on Buffalo.

Though one his early triumphs, the remarkable corporate headquarters, the Larkin Building, was demolished to make way for a parking lot, many of his other works remain, most notably, the Martin House, one of Wright’s largest Prairie Houses, now lovingly restored. It is one of a handful of remarkable houses Wright designed in Buffalo.

Buffalo City Hall, which still dominates the core, is an Art Deco monument the likes of which would be hard to match anywhere in the world.

The enormous 32-floor structure is a building that can be “read.” Fittingly, it tells the history of Buffalo as a heroic series of events. Though not entirely beautiful, it is pharaonic in scale and deeply impressive in its size and detailing.

Designed by Buffalo architect, John Wade, it speaks of a city proud of its past and excitedly optimistic about its future. Those qualities have acquired a certain poignancy in the 21st century, but the story isn’t over yet.

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Buffalo isn’t the city it was 60 or 70 years ago. On the other hand, as North Americans return to cities and the allure of urban life begins to draw people from the suburbs back downtown, the Queen City will surely prosper once again. When that happens, the architecture of these bygone eras will find new meaning and uses.

Not only do we not build like that anymore, we have forgotten how.

Did you know . . . ?

Mark Twain lived here. And, from 1869-71, the literary giant edited the daily Buffalo Express. Peek behind the apartment building at 472 Delaware Ave., and you can see the Twains’ still-standing carriage house.