{"nrhp_refnum":"83001673","name":"South Buffalo North Side Light","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Buffalo Harbor","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.83530063100005,"lon":-78.86723556899994,"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, bottle-shaped iron harbor beacon erected in 1903 on the breakwater at the north side of the south entrance to Buffalo Harbor, on Lake Erie, in Buffalo, New York.","why_significant":"The record describes it as one of two bottle-shaped beacons in Buffalo Harbor and notes that it played an important role in the development of Buffalo as a port. It is part of a group nomination of U.S. Coast Guard lighthouses and light stations on the Great Lakes.","narrative":"Marking the north side of the south entrance to Buffalo Harbor, this beacon was erected in 1903 on the breakwater at the edge of Lake Erie. It is one of two bottle-shaped beacons in the harbor. The 29-foot tower is built of boiler plate, 3/8 inch thick at the base and 1/4 inch at the slender neck. It measures just over 10 feet across at the base 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. The tower sits on a circular concrete base atop a stone-filled crib founded on bedrock. Originally it held a sixth-order Fresnel lens and a fixed white oil lamp that was raised and lowered by a cable, pulley and winch. Around 1960 a battery-operated 12-volt lamp with a green plastic lens replaced it. The beacon remains in service and is credited with helping Buffalo develop as a port.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered, with exterior intact; still in use as a harbor beacon.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.570346-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/8910/28891090/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/83001673.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001673/06dbd715bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001673/06dbd715bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Buffalo_North_Side_Light_Nov_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_Buffalo_North_Side_Light_Nov_09.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891090","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Buffalo_North_Side_Light","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7566452"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/south-buffalo-north-side-light-83001673/"}