The Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier Board of Trustees, on July 9, 2007, approved draft guidelines for landmark closings. We invite other preservation and community groups to also endorse the guidelines and to work together with owners of landmark facilities to implement them.

Preservation Guidelines for Landmark Closings
September 12, 2007

The purpose of these guidelines is help avoid the errors of the past, e.g., the Richardson Complex, the Central Terminal (prior to the formation of the Central Term Restoration Corporation), Transfiguration Church, and several lost structures demolished through neglect.

Closed landmarks are community assets and treasures for which future adaptive reuse will probably and eventually occur if they are properly maintained. The Landmark Society's definition of a landmark is any building or natural site that tells important stories or may have or be worthy of legal landmark status.

1. Create a Landmark Stabilization Fund from foundations, the private sector, relevant government agencies, and citizens to pay for materials necessary for stabilization,

2. Stabilize/maintain the structure, especially roofs and windows.

3. Create a group to advocate for the building ("The Friends of ...").

4. The advocacy group should have the building, if possible, designated as a local, state and national landmark to afford it additional protection and potential tax credits. (For example, the Catholic churches that are being closed, the Landmark Society believes, are all eligible for landmark designation.)

5. Network the advocacy groups and relevant government agencies.

6. The advocacy group should encourage the market place, working directly with realtors, to find future practical reuse of the landmark.

7. The advocacy group should monitor the sale and ongoing development with owners and government officials.

See also:

Endorsements:

1. City of Buffalo Housing Court Judge Henry Nowak
2. Preservation Coaltion of Erie County
3. Richard Baer, former chair of the City of Buffalo Preservation Board