Spotlight Tour: Former Buffalo Athletic Center

The Buffalo Athletic Club (BAC) was built in 1924 across Niagara Square from the Statler Hotel which was completed the year before. It was designed by the prolific architect, E. B. Green in the Colonial Revival style. The building helped transition Niagara Square from a residential area to a civic center.

The BAC was an upper-class men’s club featuring amenities such as a swimming pool, gymnasium, and ballroom. By 1938, the BAC had over 2,700 members. Eventually the building was converted into office space and currently is the home primarily of law firms and attorney’s offices.

Over the years, the building suffered, and its grandeur was lost.  In 2018 Jeffrey and Leslie Wynn (Gold Wynn Management LLC) purchased the building. They had a vision for the building and its prime location in the heart of Buffalo’s municipal center. Jeffrey Wynn had a particular interest in Art Deco, and you can see his love of the style reflected in the restoration of the lobby. The original shoeshine stand still has its position in the lobby along with the barber shop.

On this tour you will see areas that have been restored as well as areas that are still in the original condition that the Wynns encountered when they purchased the building. It will not be difficult to imagine how magnificent the building was in its heyday and see what the Wynns saw in its future potential.