Coppola’s Pan-American House Pawn in New Game: Plans to Move It in Try to Save Peace Bridge Area
By Brian Meyer, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Feb. 2–Al Coppola, who three months ago threatened to tear down his historic Pan-American House on Delaware Avenue, now says he will move the structure to a street near the Peace Bridge in hopes of saving the entire West Side neighborhood from the wrecking ball.
Coppola, a former Common Council member and state senator, said he’s working on a plan to move the structure from 1950 Delaware Ave. near Middlesex Road to a site about four miles southwest on Columbus Parkway in the shadow of the Peace Bridge.
Coppola said he also will work to get landmark status for the 2z-story clapboard structure, which was used in the 1901 Pan-American Exposition.
If that effort succeeds, Coppola said it could save the neighborhood from demolition that is planned to make way for expansion of the Peace Bridge.
“If they want to tear down some beautiful homes in that area, they’ll have to tear down my little white house, too,” he said.
City and state preservation officials had previously indicated that the 1850s vintage building, known as the Indian Stockade during Buffalo’s 1901 world’s fair, would likely meet some criteria as a local, state and even national landmark.
Coppola added that he has a specific site in mind, but has yet to purchase the land.
Three months ago, Coppola threatened to tear down the Pan-American House unless the Preservation Board let a downtown restaurant owned by a friend install an awning over its entrance. The board recommended that the city reject the demolition application.
Coppola said Friday that he has decided against tearing down the structure in favor of moving his “historic treasure” into an equally historic neighborhood near the Peace Bridge.
But Buffalo’s inspections chief said Coppola would have to obtain numerous permits and present detailed plans before the city would authorize such a move. If Coppola’s plan materializes, Richard M. Tobe said, it would be the first building relocation he has witnessed since becoming commissioner of economic development, permits and inspections services 25 months ago.
Coppola would have to give the city a plan that includes an analysis by an engineer or architect.
“Before you can move a structure, you have to show how it’s going to be held together,” Tobe said. “You would have show how it could be safely lifted, moved and reset on another property.” Then there’s the move itself.
“Public works would have to get involved to make sure streets could sustain the heavy load,” Tobe said.
Depending on the height of the building, some traffic lights and other obstructions might have to be moved — all at the applicant’s expense, Tobe added.
The costly move would be worth the price, Coppola said, to prevent “one of the most colossal mistakes” in Buffalo’s history. Coppola claimed the Peace Bridge plan as it exists today would decimate a neighborhood, creating health, traffic and aesthetic nightmares for residents.
“They’re putting the people in this neighborhood through anguish I’ve never seen before,” he said. “Where are our elected officials? Where are they? They’ve left these residents for dead.”
Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, said he doesn’t think Coppola is serious.
“He went from wanting to demolish it, to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move it?” Rienas asked.
Rienas disputed Coppola’s claim that the bridge project will harm the neighborhood.
“We are preserving the vast majority of the West Side. The insinuation from Mr. Coppola is that we are destroying the West Side. That’s absolutely not true.”
He said if Coppola is serious about wanting to move the Pan- American House in the name of historic preservation, bridge planners would work with him to find a suitable location.
“But I don’t think that’s what he has in mind,” Rienas said.
The Pan-American House is one of only two buildings from the world’s fair that are still in their original locations. The other is the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.
Coppola bought the house in 1982 and used it as rental property at one point. While the building has been vacant for years, Coppola said he has taken pains to maintain it.
bmeyer@buffnews.com
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