(rshsdepot) Central Terminal (Buffalo, NY)

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Buffalo News.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Restoration conductor hangs up his cap at Central Terminal
April 25 2008  
By Mark Sommer 
 
Ten years ago, Central Terminal was an uninhabited and dilapidated relic in  
danger of the wrecking ball. 
 
Today, the 17-story art deco former train station on the East Side is still  
a long way from full restoration, but it has become a popular site for 
community  and offbeat artistic events. 
 
The surprising transformation wouldn’t have happened without Russell  Pawlak, 
the pitchman, marketer and, some people contend, visionary who grew up  on 
Milburn Street, in the shadow of Central Terminal. 
 
Now, after a decade of volunteer involvement, including the last eight as  
president of the Central Terminal Restoration Corp., Pawlak is hanging up his  
conductor’s cap. 
 
“I’m very proud of the role I’ve played in the project, no matter how small  
or large you want to consider it to be. We proved a band of creative, 
dedicated  people could make a difference,” Pawlak said. 
 
Mike Miller, the organization’s acting president, credits Pawlak with  giving 
the public the chance to reconnect, or experience for the first time, one  of 
Buffalo’s architectural icons. 
 
“Had it not been for Russell’s hard work in the last 10 years, we wouldn’t  
even be on the map,” Miller said. “In the early days, he had to really fight 
for  attention because we were told no one would want to come to the East Side.
” 
 
Central Terminal opened in June 1929 at Paderewski Drive and Curtiss  Street, 
an example of the art deco movement so popular during that decade. 
 
The station, which in its heyday saw 200 passenger trains daily, was closed  
50 years later when the last Amtrak train pulled out in October 1979. City of  
Buffalo negligence, followed by a succession of private owners and vandalism, 
 resulted in the building’s being stripped of its decorative ornamentations. 
 
Pawlak became involved with saving Central Terminal through an annual  
cleanup of the station grounds, just before the nonprofit Central Terminal  
Restoration Corp. had formed and purchased the structure for $1. 
 
The group secured a grant to repair and light the four exterior bronze and  
glass tower clocks and the crown of the tower, both of which Pawlak called a  “
good symbolic gesture.” 
 
Then, it received a $1 million grant from Erie County to stabilize the  
building and seal it from the elements and intruders. 
 
The grant also paid for the removal of more than 350 tons of debris, 1.5  
million gallons of water from lower levels, roof repairs and the enclosure of  
4,000 windows. 
 
The event that really turned heads came in 2003, when an estimated 4,000  
people waited in line, some for hours, to get the first public look inside in  
nearly a quarter of a century. 
 
In recent years, thousands of people have showed up at a time to attend a  
wide array of events, from Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center’s “Artists and  
Models” event to this year’s second annual Dyngus Day celebration. 
 
Eva Hassett, chief of staff for former Mayor Anthony M. Masiello during  
those early years, praised Pawlak’s efforts. “He has shown amazing instincts at  
knowing how to connect the building to the community, which is how I think  
buildings get saved.” 
 
Pawlak believes the group’s steady approach, with concrete gains at each  
step, proved to the public that something could be done with the building in a  
city where projects often fail. 
 
Pawlak said he needs a break after going full steam ahead for so long. He`s  
also on the Buffalo Preservation Board and recently joined the board of the  
Broadway Market. 
 
Pawlak hopes the day comes when the building finds the mixed-use tenants he  
believes will ensure its long-term viability and wishes the volunteer  
organization continued success. 
 
“When I think about the Central Terminal, I think of the [poet] Delmore  
Schwartz’s line, ‘In dreams begin responsibilities,’ he said. “We had a dream  
for a building; in order to execute it there are a lot of responsibilities.” 



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1717
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org