The Orange Building In The Buffalo Area

Last week we saw the background of the very controversial Kensington Expressway, in Buffalo NY, and how it might be an example of underlying historical forces at work. Today let's have a look at another controversial structure around Buffalo, NY, and how it has more historical background than we might expect.

Lackawanna is the suburb immediately south of Buffalo and the controversial structure is Lackawanna City Hall. Many people have complained that the bright orange modernist structure just does not fit with the rest of Lackawanna, especially being a couple of minutes walk from Our Lady of Victory Basilica.

Image from Google Street View

What I would like to do is offer another perspective on this building.

The color orange is actually very important in New York State. New York City was originally the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam and the Dutch royal house was the House of Orange, now the House of Orange-Nassau.

The flag of Ireland is a tricolor of green, white and, orange. We know that green is the national color of Ireland. What doesn't get as much attention is the orange side of the flag. It originated with the Dutch House of Orange. It's Protestant king, William, was invited to "invade" and rule Britain, so Britain could avoid having another Catholic monarch. This is known as the "Glorious Revolution". Orange thus stood for Protestants and this is why it is one side of the Irish flag. The white between the orange and green represents peace between Protestants and Catholics.

Another result of the name of the House of Orange is that one of the predecessor states of South Africa was called the Orange Free State.

Because New York City began as a Dutch settlement, ruled by the House of Orange, the name and the color of orange became important to New York State. Just north of New York City is Orange County. Albany, today the state capital, began as Fort Orange. The sports teams of Syracuse University, one of the most important universities in the state, are called the Syracuse Orange.

So, although orange is more important in the eastern part of New York State, what this bright orange building in Lackawanna accomplishes is to anchor the Buffalo area to the heritage of New York State. This may not have been the conscious intention when it was being built but historical forces were at work and this is how it turned out.

Lackawanna is just south of heavily-Irish South Buffalo. Notice that the green dome of Our Lady of Victory Basilica represents the green side of the Irish flag and this building, just across and down Ridge Road, represents the orange side of the flag.