#rand building

[whatsnewbuffalo]

Lafayette Square c. 1955

[decoarchitecture]

Rand Building, Buffalo, New York Vintage Postcard - For Sale* on Etsy by planetlissa

Great 1940s postcard of a classic skyscraper in Buffalo.

From Wikipedia:

The Rand Building is a skyscraper and the third tallest building in Buffalo, New York. At the time it was built in 1929, it was the tallest in the city at a height of 391 feet (119 m). Built on the site of the 1903 Olympic Theatre, it has been suggested that the Rand Building was the inspiration for the Empire State Building.

The building is named for George Rand, a prominent Buffalo financier in the 1920s. The Buffalo Broadcasting Company moved its stations WGR and WKBW to the building in 1922; today, the stations in the Townsquare Media cluster (WMSX, WBLK, WBUF, and WYRK) broadcast from studios in the Rand Building and have their transmitting antennas located atop its beacon. The "GR" in WGR stands for George Rand. The station was founded by the Federal Telephone and Telegraph company in 1922, in which Rand was a major investor.

Adjacent to the Rand Building is 10 Lafayette Square in Lafayette Square.

* As of posting (11/13/2015), listed at $6.00.

[whatsnewbuffalo]

The Rand Building

Was the Empire State Building modeled after the Rand Building of Buffalo? Completed in 1929, it was possible for the hastily designed Empire State Building to have taken features from Buffalo's radio center. The rumor has spread across the internet and even into the very walls of Buffalo's 3rd tallest building. Yet, although it's true that the Empire State took features from some of the freshly built American buildings of the time, the Rand is never recognized. Yet, would the firm that designed all three buildings admit an outside design influence?

Photograph © Greg Meadows