Today’s urban scene of the week (er, scene of the month?) brings us to 567 Exchange Street, an alluringly spare, rustic loft building at the banks of Buffalo’s most historic and longest-enduring rail line, the Buffalo & Attica, first built in 1843 and later subsumed into the New York Central rail empire that connected the city to New York, Chicago, and the vast reaches of the continent beyond.
The four-story structure was not constructed at this site in 1900 for no reason. The Buffalo Lounge Co., for which the building was erected, chose this precise location because of the geography of the Hydraulics at the intersection of several rail lines, including the Erie and New York Central. The Buffalo Lounge Co. was directly linked to both lines via a rail bed that once existed behind the building.
The wholesale furniture company, which sold wares in bulk from catalogue to dealer only, was part of a network of rail-connected, large-scale manufacturers that made the Hydraulics an impressive center of industry at the turn of the century. At this site the firm built lounges, couches, adjustable end divans, bed lounges, wardrobes, and bed couches to be shipped by rail to dealers across the United States.
The unique position of the building at one of the country’s largest rail intersections equally benefited the Craver-Dickinson Seed Co., which occupied the building around 1933 and sold seeds worldwide from this location for decades. Today, the building does not serve its original purpose as a traditional manufactory linked by rail, and the building’s adaptability and durable construction have assured its new lease on life. Owned by investor Chris Jacobs of 567 Exchange Street LLC, the building now houses several creative industries tenants, including, as it happens, a few very cool businesses that sell furniture.
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