File:Salvation Army building, Buffalo, New York - 20211005.jpg

English: As seen in October 2021: the building at 960 Main Street in Buffalo, New York, housing the offices of the local chapter of the Salvation Army. Designed by the local firm of James W. Kideney & Associates, the building functions almost as a primer on the aesthetic principles of the International Style of architecture as practiced in the era (so-called "Midcentury Modernism") with its sprawling and bottom-heavy massing, preponderance of right angles, and horizontal rows of uniform windows. The façade presents some interesting color contrasts, as well, pairing red brock with salmon-pink stone panels. It was known at least as early as 1946, and probably before, that the local chapter of the Salvation Army would soon outgrow its cramped headquarters on East Mohawk Street downtown: the organization had purchased the former site of the Henry Rumrill mansion the previous year, and in January they unveiled their plans for a three-story Collegiate Gothic-style building designed by local architect Duane Lyman which would include not only the organization's local offices but also worship space, a band rehearsal room, a gynmasium, a medical clinic, and public baths. They soon embarked on a fundraising drive to finance the projected $500,000 in construction costs - the first time this heretofore entirely member-supported organization had ever appealed directly to the public for donations - and construction was projected to commence in the autumn. However, for unrecorded reasons, groundbreaking didn't actually occur until February 1956, by which point Lyman's original blueprints had been scrapped in favor of the current design (which, according to contemporaneous news reports, "not only provide[d] adequate facilities for carrying on its greatly-expanded community service now, but [was] planned to meet the demands for the next 50 years"), and the Salvation Army itself had been keeping its offices in a succession of rented spaces, holding occasional tent revivals and other events on the empty lot while awaiting construction. The original portion of the complex, seen at left in this photo, was dedicated early the next year; the north wing, at right, was part of the original plan, but its construction was put off until later. Home of what's now called the Mitchell Owen Youth Center, it was inaugurated in 1960.