Historical architecture, innovative design
Doors Open Niagara weekend invites visitors to two countries
by ELIZABETH TAUFA
W estern New York and Southern Ontario are home to several historical buildings and sites. But one needs endless time and money to visit them all.

Warren Hull House, 1810, Lancaster

However, for the weekend of Oct. 13 and 14, money won't be a problem.

The sixth annual Doors Open Niagara will allow visitors free admission to 97 historical sites in the Niagara region, in both Canada and the United States.

The concept of the event began in France in 1984 and has made its way throughout the world. although New York City, Denver and Lowell, Mass., are the only other areas in the United States with Doors Open events.

"There are two purposes to the event," said Arlene White, executive director of the Binational Tourism Alliance. "One is to showcase the built heritage to people within a community so that a need to preserve it is in place, and the other is to showcase the built heritage and architecture to people outside the community."

In an average year, 26,000 people take advantage of Doors Open Niagara, according to White. Approximately 5 percent of those people are Europeans, many of whom plan their vacations to the area to coincide with the event.

Elliot House, 1851, Amherst Museum

"They come for our fall colors, and it's not as hot or busy as it is in the summer," White said.

She also noted that many visitors follow Doors Open events around the world. The New York City event is held the weekend previous to Doors Open Niagara.

The event grows every year, this year adding Orleans County, with three sites in Medina.

"We do have our tried and true sites that people look forward to every year, like the Darwin Martin House, Albright Knox and City Hall," White said.

The Amherst Museum at 3755 Tonawanda Creek Road, at New Road in Amherst, is another site that has participated in the event since it began.

"The premise is that it gives people the opportunity to see something that's not normally available to them," said Betty Lerner of the Amherst Museum. "A lot of the historical sites are not open to the public."

While the museum is open to the public year-round, visitors on the Doors Open Niagara weekend will be admitted to the Anscombe Storage Building for the first time.

Rich Twinn Octagon House, 1849, Akron

"Most museums don't let people into their storage facilities," Lerner said. "It's unusual and fascinating to see."

Lerner noted that the museum holds more than it can exhibit at any one time, so many things being housed in the climate-controlled storage space have never been on display.

Not only will visitors to the museum be able to view the seldom-seen artifacts, but also they will get a firsthand lesson in the preservation process.

"We have things in archival tissue and boxes, and textiles have to be hung a certain way," Lerner said.

Last year's event was canceled because of the October storm, but in previous years, the museum opened the unrestored Dann Road House, which was not previously open to the public, to display the structural elements. It has since been turned into an exhibit on 19th-century construction.

"We're hoping people would come to the museum who had not been here before," Lerner said regarding Doors Open Niagara attendance.

Roycroft Copper Shop and Campus, three wings, 1901, 1910, 1918 East Aurora

Other area buildings that will be open for the event include the Rich-Twin Octagon House in Akron, the Asa Ransom House in Clarence, the Lancaster Presbyterian Church and Warren Hull House in Lancaster, and the Roycroft Copper Shop in East Aurora, which is a new location for this year's event.

Several Buffalo locations will also be open free of charge, including the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Frank Lloyd Wright's Martin House complex, the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, and the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historical Site.

Doors Open Niagara includes sites from Youngstown, Niagara Falls, Medina, Lockport, Lewiston and Burt and southern Ontario locations that include Grimsby, Jordan, Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Wainfleet, Welland and West Lincoln.

While the history of the area is an important part of the event, in order to reach younger audiences a design aspect has also been established for this year's weekend.

Those who visit the Amherst Museum during the "Doors Open Niagara" weekend on Oct. 13 and 14 will be allowed a curator-guided tour through the museum's Anscombe Storage Building, which is normally closed to the public. Visitors will get a first-hand look at the museum's artifact preservation procedure and cataloguing system.

"Last year with the storm we really had a chance to take a step back," said White. "That's why we're calling this season 'Niagara By Design.'"

Design aspects of the event have been ongoing on both sides of the border since September and include art exhibits, a film series and an architecture photography contest for adults and youths.

"I don't know if people realize that nothing is random," White said of all design. "And every design is influenced by the social atmosphere."

As an example, White referenced Frank Lloyd Wright as an innovator in architecture in his time and likened him to the young architects in the area today.

"It's exciting to see the new things being built, like the New Era building in downtown Buffalo," White said, noting that the landscaping and agriculture opportunities

of the area are also leading to innovations in design.

For more information on the Doors Open Niagara

weekend, including

a complete listing of events and sites, visit the Web site at www.doorsopenniagara. com or call the Binational Tourism Alliance's Buffalo office at 1-888-849-5834.

Visitors guides can also be found online or at any of the Doors Open Niagara sites.

e-mail: etaufa@beenews.com