{"nrhp_refnum":"83001669","name":"Buffalo North Breakwater South End Light","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Buffalo Harbor","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.880401197000026,"lon":-78.89568157599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-08-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 29-foot iron harbor beacon built in 1903 on the southeast end of a detached breakwater at the north entrance to Buffalo Harbor on Lake Erie, in Buffalo, New York.","why_significant":"The document describes it as one of two bottle-shaped beacons in Buffalo Harbor and says it played an important role in the development of Buffalo as a port. Its boiler-plate construction and its use as a harbor entrance marker are the features the record emphasizes.","narrative":"Erected in 1903, this 29-foot beacon marks the north side of the main entrance to Buffalo Harbor on Lake Erie. It is one of two bottle-shaped beacons in the harbor. The tower is made of boiler plate, 3/8 inch thick at the base and 1/4 inch at the slender neck, and measures about 10 feet across at the bottom and 2 feet 3 inches at the top. Four cast-iron port windows and a curved iron door distinguish it, and a boiler-plate dome forms the white-painted roof. It rests on a circular concrete base on the pierhead, supported by a stone-filled crib set on bedrock. A sixth-order Fresnel lens originally produced a fixed red light, first shown on 1 September 1903, colored by a ruby chimney over the oil lamp. The keeper of the Buffalo Main Light tended it. Around 1960 a battery-operated green lamp replaced the earlier equipment. The beacon is recorded as important to Buffalo's growth as a port.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Bottle-shaped beacon","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition and altered; still used as a harbor beacon, with the exterior noted as intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.592465-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/88/8910/28891088/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83001669.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001669/c0e14f2d89-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001669/c0e14f2d89-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Andre Carrotflower","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erie_Basin_Marina,_Buffalo,_New_York_-_%22Two_Lighthouses,_a_Sailboat,_and_a_Breakwall%22_-_20170729.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Andre Carrotflower</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Erie_Basin_Marina,_Buffalo,_New_York_-_%22Two_Lighthouses,_a_Sailboat,_and_a_Breakwall%22_-_20170729.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891088","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_North_Breakwater_South_End_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4985802"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/buffalo-north-breakwater-south-end-light-83001669/"}