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Greater Buffalo Savings Bank
former Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company showroom
Buffalo, NY |
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The former Pierce-Arrow showroom is an Art Deco beauty built in 1929. The building was used to detail cars with walnut trim and gold inlay before they were shipped to customers in the 1920s and 1930s. Pierce-Arrow went bankrupt in 1938. It later became a Cadillac dealership. In 2002, the Greater Buffalo Savings Bank renovated and moved into the building. The magnificent interior has been preserved and an antique Pierce-Arrow car sits next to the banking desks. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2.
The Pierce-Arrow automobile was developed and manufactured in Buffalo in the early 1900s. For more, see this website.
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former Eureka Garage
Brooklyn, NY |
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The Eureka Garage has a winged wheel relief design similar to the Manchester showroom above and was probably built around the same time. I don't know if the Eureka was originally a showroom or a garage.
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SPoT Coffee
former Hallman's Chevrolet
Rochester, NY |
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The Hallman's Chevrolet building is faced with black structural glass and stainless steel. It also retains its huge arched window, neon signs and clock, and interior details. The building itself is from the early 1900s but Hallman gave it this Streamline Art Deco facelift in 1936. I would love to see old photos of the place to know if cars were displayed in these giant windows like they are now in the Bethesda location shown below.
In 2000, this building was converted into Chevy Place - a 77-unit apartment complex with ground-level retail space. The main tenant is SPoT Coffee which has divided the showroom floor into four sections including a comfy room behind curtains with couches and a fake fireplace. The interior's vastness, light and details are breathtaking.
There are four other SPoT stores in Western NY with two locations in Buffalo, one in Williamsville, and one in Ellicottville. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.
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Mercedes-Benz Showroom
New York, NY |
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This Mercedes-Benz showroom was originally the Hoffman Auto Showroom and is now known as Mercedes-Benz Manhattan. It was designed for Mercedes-Benz by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1954. The building was converted at that time from an apartment building into office space (Wright was only involved in the showroom space). In 2001, the building was further updated and the adjoining southern lobby space next to Wright’s portion expanded the showroom to three times its size. This glitzy Park Avenue location now also sells another luxury car – the Maybach.
Wright's showroom features a spiral-shaped, plaster-covered ramp which can only fit about five cars. On a much smaller scale, it resembles the Guggenheim Museum, which Wright designed later, in 1959. The only other building that Wright designed in New York City was a house in Staten Island.
The showroom's mirrored ceiling was part of Wright's original plan but this is not the same one. It was replaced in a 1981 restoration with this more flashy one. Wright also planned to have mirrors on the floor but this proved to be too impractical. The small showroom also features a terrazzo floor and a still-functioning turntable which slowly spins the cars. Wright also designed hassocks and coffee tables for the space but I didn't notice if they are still there. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.
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Tunmore Oldsmobile
Buffalo, NY |
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Tunmore Oldsmobile has been around since 1923, selling Oldsmobiles since 1931. They originally sold Willys-Knights, Overlands and Hudsons. This showroom is from the 1930s and is basically unchanged. A fire in 1948 required them to do some repairs. Their used car lot across the street has been developed into new stores but the great sign has been saved (I'm not sure where it is now though). It had been declared to fragile to repair. Tunmore was the last franchise auto dealership in Buffalo (everyone now goes to the suburbs to buy cars). They now sell like-new cars since GM has phased out production of Oldsmobiles. For more, see this website.
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Hoselton Chevrolet
East Rochester, NY |
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This Hoselton Chevrolet showroom opened in 1964. They now sell many other makes of automobiles and are also known as the Hoselton Auto Mall. For more, see their website.
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Ken Wilson Chevrolet
Vestal, NY |
The Ken Wilson Chevrolet showroom was built in 1963. It features a hyperbolic parabola like that of the Paul Miller showroom in Lexington, KY.
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The Penn Toyota semi-circular showroom has survived remodeling. I believe it was built in the early 1970s. For more, see their website.
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Used Car Sales
Riverhead, NY |
Used Car Sales (if there was a more formal name, it wasn't apparent from the signage) has another semi-circular showroom accented with a stone tower.
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