{"nrhp_refnum":"12000012","name":"Tishman Building","other_names":["Iroquois Gas Company Building","10 Lafayette Square","National Fuel Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"447 Main St., 10 Lafayette Sq.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.88819547000003,"lon":-78.87359193499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-02-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 20-story International Style office tower at 447 Main Street/10 Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo, Erie County, New York, designed in 1957-58 by Emery Roth and Sons and built by Tishman Realty & Construction Company.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as Buffalo's first metal and glass curtain wall skyscraper and the first new downtown office building in about 30 years. Its 1959 opening was seen as a sign of confidence in downtown and preceded a wave of 1960s and 1970s construction. It also represents Emery Roth and Sons' speculative office design with a flexible structural grid.","narrative":"Rising 245 feet above the corner of Main Street and Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo, this 20-story office tower was designed in 1957-58 by the New York firm Emery Roth and Sons and built by Tishman Realty & Construction. Its concrete column-and-beam frame is wrapped in an aluminum and glass curtain wall, with black porcelain enamel and stainless steel detailing at the storefronts. The open floors, organized by a column grid around a circulation core, were meant to be divided to suit each tenant. Tishman replaced an 1875 cast iron insurance building to make way for it. Opened in 1959, it was the first new downtown office building in Buffalo in roughly three decades and the city's first metal and glass skyscraper. Civic leaders saw it as a sign of faith in downtown, and it preceded several larger towers built in the following decades. Iroquois Gas Company was an early major tenant. The building is currently listed as vacant.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Emery Roth and Sons (architect); Tishman Realty & Construction Company (builder)","architectural_style":"Modern Movement/International Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in the form's current functions as vacant/not in use; the first floor and lower floors show later build-out for a customer bill-paying and service center, and the original lobby finishes have been covered or removed.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.864905-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/12000012.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000012/f8f84f2c73-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000012/f8f84f2c73-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tishman_Building_Apr_12.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tishman_Building_Apr_12.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317721","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10_Lafayette_Square","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4546882"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/tishman-building-12000012/"}