We are very proud of our recent contributions to the restoration of The Graystone Building, one of the most significant projects Optima Design has been involved with from a historic preservation standpoint.

“Designed by Buffalo architect Carlton Strong and constructed between 1894 and 1897, the Italian Renaissance-style structure was intended to be a luxury apartment building stretching to the west of Delaware, [Buffalo’s] most prestigious street. When it opened in late 1897, it was an apartment hotel [and] it hosted visitors to the Pan-Am Exposition just a few years later,” reports The Buffalo News. Redeveloper Ellicott Development expands on how The Graystone is, “listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is architecturally significant as one of the earliest examples of reinforced concrete technology in the construction of large-scale multi-story buildings in the United States.”

“After years of abandonment and decay so severe that trees grew through the roof of the six-story building, the former Graystone Hotel in downtown Buffalo has been given new life as a 42-unit apartment complex, following a two-year reconstruction and redevelopment effort by Ellicott Development,” reports The Buffalo News. Ellicott CEO William Paladino tells The Buffalo News, “The complete structure had to be reinforced. Just to fix the building structurally so people could go in and work, that took six months.” Paladino continues, “It’s very satisfying to finish this project and have it be so well-received. People have given us many compliments. It really improves the look on that block and brings something that was dormant for 30 years back to life.”

Optima Design’s Lauri Traynor was the structural engineer on the project, saving this historical building.