The long-held dream by late Buffalo News Publisher and President Stanford Lipsey to have a regional architecture-based visitor center is getting closer to that vision this summer.
That’s when renovations and the expansion of a circa 1875 building on the Richardson complex will start, creating a permanent home for Lipsey Architecture Center Buffalo. President of the center Paris Roselli says their mission will be an asset to the region.
“This is an architecture center/visitor center. We on the board think that Stan would be proud to finally see this dream of his come to life,” Roselli said. “So, in addition to the Frank Lloyd Wright's Darwin Martin House and the Richardson Olmsted campus, which he really drove and got good people around him, this was kind of the last piece of the puzzle, and we're finally delivering on that vision.”
The project will see a former kitchen expanded to 11,000 square feet to make way for exhibits, historical artifacts and special event space. Roselli says the new building should result in a major spike of architecture and historical-based tour groups and individual tourists.
“The good news is, as a group we're starting to appreciate more and more the tourism benefits and the impact to the community,” Roselli said. “Our parkway system, the buildings, the scale, it all affects how you live and how you feel, and I think people are really appreciating more and more what we have.”
The nearly $30 million project is expected to be completed by late 2026 or 2027.
