Welcome to the Archives of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation. The purpose of this online database is to function as a tool for scholars, students, architects, preservationists, journalists and other interested parties. The archive consists of photographs, slides, articles and publications from Rudolph’s lifetime; physical drawings and models; personal photos and memorabilia; and contemporary photographs and articles.

Unless otherwise noted, all images and drawings are copyright © The Estate of Paul Rudolph and The Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation. Please speak with a representative of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation to get permission to use any drawings or photos. Drawings, sketches and other materials produced by Rudolph’s architectural office at the Library of Congress are maintained there for preservation, but the intellectual property rights belong to the Paul Rudolph Estate and Ernst Wagner, founder of the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation.

LOCATION
Address: 200 Niagara Street
City: Buffalo
State: New York
Zip Code: 14201
Nation: United States

STATUS
Type: Masterplan / Housing
Status: Built, Partially Demolished

TECHNICAL DATA
Date(s): 1969-1974
Site Area:
Floor Area:
Height:
Floors (Above Ground):
Building Cost:

PROFESSIONAL TEAM
Client: New York State Urban Development Corporation; Caldwell Development Corp.
Architect: Paul Rudolph
Rudolph Staff: Terrance Mullen, Job Captain; Garry Rodd, Job Captain
Associate Architect: Hess and Gorey
Landscape:
Structural: Souza and True
MEP: Sherry Associates
Consulting Engineer: Simpson, Gumpertz and Heger
Marina Design: Webber, Di Donato, Renaldo
QS/PM:

SUPPLIERS
Contractor: Siegfried Construction Company, Inc.
Subcontractor(s):

Buffalo Waterfront Housing Project (Shoreline Apartments)

The City of Buffalo’s urban-renewal department clears the waterfront and its existing ‘slum’ housing during the 1960’s. The city clears a large West Side neighborhood consisting of nineteenth century buildings, relocating people of predominantly Italian descent.
The ‘Buffalo Waterfront Complex’ is planned to be a multi-phased Urban Renewal project to revitalize Buffalo’s waterfront and Outer Harbor areas. It will be one of the largest UDC developments outside of New York City.
Paul Rudolph begins the project design in 1969.
The project is part of a 1970 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) entitled Work in Progress.
Construction begins in 1971.
On October 21, 1971 a frustrated Ed Logue writes a memo to Paul Rudolph stating, “My report on your first design for Phase III Buffalo Waterfront is that it will win a P.A. award and that is about it. After the length of time you have been working on this job, it seems to me that we ought to be able to get down to the real world without a waste of time, money, and your own unique talents.”
The project is featured in a 1972 edition of the Architectural Record.
Construction is complete in 1974.

In 2009 the complex is determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. It is eligible under Criterion C as an “exceptionally significant” example of the Brutalist style designed by Paul Rudolph. It is also eligible under Criterion A for its associations with the Urban Renewal era in Buffalo, NY. In Buffalo, proposed local landmarks must meet at least one of nine criteria; Shoreline meets six of them. Nevertheless the owner, Norstar USA, manages to defeat the proposed local landmarking of the site.
In 2015 the project faces the first of ‘several projected phases of upgrades’ which call for the demolition of currently unoccupied Rudolph-design units and replacement with suburban-like Victorian style townhouses composed of vinyl siding and cement board.
Five of the original 34 Rudolph-designed buildings are demolished in 2015.
In 2019 a local Buffalo art gallery, El Museo, mounts an exhibition and sponsors a symposium about the project, which receives funding from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Graham Foundation.
In March 2020, 17 more Rudolph-designed buildings are demolished.