The
Hamlin Park Historic District is primarily a residential neighborhood on the
east side of Buffalo, New York that is roughly bounded by Main Street to the
north, Humboldt Parkway to the east, East Ferry Street to the south, and
Jefferson Avenue to the west. It is currently listed as a local historic
district within the same boundaries.
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| 1880 Landowner Map |
The
area now known as Hamlin Park historically developed in two stages. The
northern section (north of Northland Avenue and known as the Hager Division)
was developed several years earlier than the southern section, which is known
as the Driving Park. Each section
illustrates a different residential planning philosophy, yet they are unified
by similar patterns of development, as well as by physical changes that were
implemented in the 1960s through federal funding.
The Hager Division was largely developed
by the early 20th century, although some homes date to the late 19th
century. Homes in the Driving Park section were mostly built after 1912, when
the land was sold to real estate interests. The majority of Hamlin Park,
including residential and commercial buildings, was fully built out by the
mid-1920s.
The
Hager Division adhered to the picturesque Olmsted ideals as exemplified in the
nearby Parkside neighborhood while the Driving Park development, laid out
immediately after building started in the Hager Division, followed 20th
century themes such as rectilinear street grids and uniform lots. The western portion
of the Hager Division links the two sections; it was built out later than the
eastern Hager portion and shows the transition to rectilinear streets that
became commonplace in the Driving Park.
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| 1913 Buffalo News Advertisement |
Most
of the buildings in both the Hager Division and the Driving Park were not
individually designed, but rather modeled after homes in pattern books or
styles popular at the time. Many home building companies that built in the
Hager Division, also constructed similar homes in the Driving Park section
during or near the same period. On any given block one can find the same house
repeated, but differentiated from neighboring homes by details like porch
pediments, types of columns, placement of dormers, and variations in materials.
As a result, there are similar architectural characteristics that are carried
out throughout the entire district, creating a feeling of continuity throughout
the neighborhood.
The period of significance for the Hamlin Park
District encompasses two eras from 1860 until 1975. The first era, from 1860 to
1912 documents the development of the neighborhood from the first building
constructed through the planning of both the Hager and Driving Park
sub-divisions, and is represented by the repeated architectural styles and
density typical of late-Victorian streetcar neighborhoods, as well as the
layout styles of the two subdivisions which represent two distinct development
ideals. The second era, from 1966-1975, documents the neighborhood’s
participation in the federal Model City program, and is evidenced by physical
changes to porches, house siding, and other cosmetic and structural
improvements funded through Model Cities.
These periods, though documented architecturally, are also defined by
the demographic changes of the neighborhood.
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| Hamlin's Driving Park in 1869 |
The initial residents of Hamlin Park were upwardly
mobile Polish, German, and Jewish families moving from the nearby neighborhoods
of the Fruit Belt and Broadway Filmore, seeking to leave the crowded, mixed-use
neighborhoods for the quiet and comfort afforded by an almost entirely
residential development. The 1950s saw a dramatic demographic shift throughout
Buffalo’s East Side, and Hamlin Park was no exception. African Americans
already had an established community in the Ellicott District near downtown
prior to World War I, but Buffalo’s prominence in manufacturing during World
War II, made it an ideal destination during the Great Migration. The expansion
of African American families throughout the East Side prompted the exodus of
ethnic whites from those neighborhoods, and though Hamlin Park had a smoother
transition than most, by the time the Kensington Expressway was finished, all
of the neighborhoods white residents had left for North Buffalo or the suburbs.
Hamlin Park was targeted with the poverty-fighting Model Cities program along
with several of the neighborhoods to the South, but unlike other target areas,
Hamlin Park was one of the only neighborhoods with dramatic success at
preserving its integrity.
There
are two street plans in the Hamlin Park Historic District that reflect
differing planning philosophies of the 19th and 20th
centuries. The majority of the district is laid out in a standard rectilinear
grid, but a small portion to the northeast reflects the planning philosophies
of the nearby Parkside neighborhood with gracefully curving streets and planted
features. The street plan has remained largely unchanged, with the exception of
several northern streets that once crossed through Humboldt Parkway, but were
severed from the adjacent neighborhood due to the construction of the
Kensington Expressway.
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| The Kensington Expressway before the last portion of Humboldt Parkway was destroyed |
Many
of the lots are similar in size, but vary in shape as these blocks meet the
curving streets laid out by August Hager in the late 19th century.
Streets within the Driving Park portion of the district (Bound by Northland,
Humboldt, East Ferry, and Jefferson) represent the largest concentration of blocks
designed with streetcar neighborhood uniformity and compactness in mind. This
design reflects the delineation from the Romantic ideals Hager sought to
illustrate with his streets in the northern portion of the district.
Most
of the homes have shallow lots with small lawns in front and a planted buffer
between the sidewalk and street. Open porches and/or balconies are repeated on
practically every property and many homes feature a rear balcony off a second
floor bedroom.
The
Scajaquada Creek flows east to the west through Hamlin Park, hidden below the
streets by culverts that capped it in the 1920s. Although no longer exposed,
the footprint of the creek is clearly visible by the ribbon of parks on top of
it. The creek enters the district at Humboldt Parkway just above Hamlin Road
and turns north to Northland Avenue via Donaldson Road. From there it winds
between Northland and Florida and continues west down the street before curving
north, just below Beverly Road and exiting the district west of Jefferson
Avenue to Forest Lawn Cemetery.
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| Example of the culvert capping Scajaquada Creek |
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