Kremlin Building, Buffalo New York

Date added: March 14, 2010 Categories: New York Commercial

The Kremlin Building or Hall, constructed as a multiple-use commercial structure, was a good example of mid-19th-century Buffalo architecture. The building was demolished in 1965-66.

For many years Kremlin Hall was a favorite meeting place for politicians. With a seating capacity of nearly 1,000, the Hall was the center for numerous debates. Legend states that the name was given to the structure because it was erected in the midst of property which had been devastated in the war of 1812, just as the Kremlin in Moscow was built on a site of ruins.

According to an article published in the Buffalo Evening News, November 14, 1945, Kremlin Hail was built in 1854-55, by Dr. N. H. Loomis and Oliver Bugbee for stores, offices, and a public hall. In 1879 Martha B. Barry inherited the property from her uncle, William Peacock. She conveyed the property by will to her granddaughter, Anna Marshall Wilshire. The parcel was then willed to George, Lucy, and Anna, children of Anna Marshall Wilshire. In 1945 The property owned by Lucy Wilshire Grahm, East Hampton, L.I.; Anna Wilshire Erwin, Pasadena, Calif.; and Mrs. George Wilshire, New Haven, Conn., was sold to Arthur V. Slater, proprietor of the DuBois Tavern, one of the occupants of the building until its demolition.

The second-floor hall portion of the building burned February, 1875, Since the sixteen-inch-thick walls remained untouched, the interior was restored.

Kremlin Building, Buffalo New York 1911 photograph
1911 photograph