Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A preservationist group's bid to save the Great Northern grain elevator from demolition has come to an end.
Campaign for Greater Buffalo Executive Director Tim Tielman says a legal fight won't likely save any part of the 1898 structure that is currently under demolition.
After a windstorm caused a partial collapse of the elevator's Northern wall in December of 2021, the City of Buffalo ordered an emergency demolition of the elevator on Ganson Street. Tielman attempted every avenue he could to fight that decision in court.
"The court, the judges we dealt with, were unsympathetic regarding the public interest in the Great Northern, which is, of course, a longtime City of Buffalo landmark," said Tielman on Friday.
Tielman continues to point out the Great Northern's significance as an architectural and engineering landmark nationally.
"But considering the court's decision not to have a temporary restraining order against demolition while we perfect our case, there simply hasn't been time to file the case. In the meantime, demolition has continued," Tielman said, acknowledging it's going to be very difficult for the group to get back in court, argue the case and have any part of the building still standing.
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Tielman says it's disappointing to have to end the fight after putting the resources into the case against demolition.
"We've been trying very hard for over a year to roll back these decisions, the hasty decision by the former Commissioner of Permits and Inspections for an emergency demolition," notes Tielman.
Tielman says Mother Nature has proven the City wrong in the case that anymore structural damage was going to occur to the grain elevator.
"That building wasn't going to fall down. I mean, it survived. I mean that a brick came down, that steel beam came down because of that historic blizzard, we had an earthquake, the largest in 100 years, and didn't move the thing at all," explains Tielman.
In the end, Tielman says being right didn't save the Great Northern from its demise.
More from Tielman is available in the player below: