05/07/2023
Day two of featuring another amazing Preservation Awardee!
Purchase a ticket to show your support for these amazing projects and people, link below.
The Arts Café Building in Springville is the personification of community-led preservation. Located in the center of downtown Springville, 5 East Main Street was built in 1880 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing resource to the East Main-Mechanic Street Historic District. This building is especially notable for the exuberant design of its second-story façade, which features brick piers between bays, round-arched window openings, recessed square brick panels, and a prominent bracketed metal cornice.
After years of neglect, the building’s roof collapsed, taking the second floor with it. But through the leadership and dedication of the Springville Center for the Arts, the rehabilitated building now features an artisan bakery and café with a connected arts workshop, performance venue, fully accessible green roof, and artist residences.
This project was made possible through NYS EPF, Homes & Community Renewal Rural Area Revitalization Project, ESD, NY Main Street and NYS Environmental Facilities Corp funding, and financing assistance was provided by NYS Preservation League EPIP Program, M&T Bank, Local Enterprise Assistance Fund, and Community Investors.
The key ingredient to the success of this transformation was the energy of the community intertwined with courage, tenacity, innovation, creativity, and generosity in all phases of the work – the physical rebuilding, the multi-source funding, the ownership model, fearless investors, volunteers, and the combination of businesses with the arts. The Arts Café’s business structure puts the mission of building community and reinvesting in Main Street first and foremost. What began as a disaster has become a model multi-use rehabilitation project, and a significant community success story and example for the whole region.
https://preservationbuffaloniagara.org/preservation-awards/
