Buffalo Savings Bank / M&T Bank Replica Coin Bank Buildings

Originally built as the Buffalo Savings Bank, with its distinctive gold dome, this building is now owned by M&T Bank. The interior is a grand hall of business. Two souvenir replicas of the Buffalo Savings Bank have been made - a metal version by Banthrico, above on left, and a gold-colored plastic version. Completed in 1901 by architects Green & Wicks in a Beaux Arts Classicism design. In the late 1890s - the peak of Buffalo's golden age - the Buffalo Savings Bank held a competition for a grand new headquarters. Green & Wicks, Buffalo’s premier turn-of-the-century architectural firm, won the contest. Their design projected stability, security, and aspiration. The team employed the classical revival style, with a dome, for the bank. This style was popularized by the World Columbian Exposition of 1893. The building's signature feature is the gold-leafed dome. The tiles have been gilded three times. The last restoration required 140,000 paper-thin sheets of 23.75-carat gold leaf at a cost $500,000 (which was more than the initial cost of the building).  Also nearby is the Electric Building or Niagara Mohawk building which was inspired by the Electric Tower at the 1901 Pan American Exhibition. InFocusTech makes a replica of this tower to power. (I recently visited Buffalo, N.Y. and toured some of the rich architectural heritage of that city. This post is part of a series about miniature architecture of that city. The other posts can be found here. )