{"nrhp_refnum":"12000011","name":"Robertson-Cataract Electric Building","other_names":["Robertson Electric Building","THe Corn Exchange"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"100, 126 S. Elmwood","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.89044465000006,"lon":-78.87921865999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-02-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story reinforced concrete and brick commercial building with terra cotta and cut stone detailing at the corner of South Elmwood Avenue and West Mohawk Street in Buffalo, New York. Built 1915-1916 and expanded in 1919, it was designed by Wood and Bradney and built by Turner Construction as a showroom and warehouse.","why_significant":"The building housed the Robertson-Cataract Electric Company, a leader in the early 20th-century business of selling electrical supplies and apparatus, noted in trade journals for its marketing and showroom. It is also a work of the Buffalo architects Wood & Bradney, with Renaissance Revival references and distinctive polychromatic masonry ornament. Its exposed concrete structural grid reflects industrial building practice of the period.","narrative":"Standing at South Elmwood Avenue and West Mohawk Street in downtown Buffalo, this four-story building with a basement was built in 1915-1916 as a showroom and warehouse for the Robertson-Cataract Electric Company. Wood and Bradney designed it in reinforced concrete faced with brick, and Turner Construction built it. The street fronts use red, brown and purple brick, terra cotta and cut stone, with Roman Doric details at the storefront and cornice and geometric masonry patterns on the piers. A 1919 addition extended the complex, though its tallest portion was demolished around 2003. The company sold electrical supplies and apparatus and was noted in trade journals of the period for its advertising and display room. Its officers took part in national electrical industry associations. Storefronts have been altered and upper floors partitioned into offices, but the loading bay, concrete stair and exposed structural grid of columns and beams survive, showing the building's industrial character.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Wood and Bradney (architects); Turner Construction (builder)","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals/Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Interior of the original building has been divided into offices; storefronts altered; the six-story portion of the 1919 addition was demolished around 2003. The form lists current function as work in progress.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.65872-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/12000011.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000011/05ab0ccd2a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000011/05ab0ccd2a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robertson%E2%80%93Cataract_Electric_Building.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robertson%E2%80%93Cataract_Electric_Building.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317687","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertson%E2%80%93Cataract_Electric_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7352148"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/robertson-cataract-electric-building-12000011/"}