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Photo: Peaceray, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The brainchild of California real estate magnate David Karpeles, the Karpeles Manuscript Library is the world's largest privately-owned collection of historic documents and manuscripts. The library consists of twelve branches nationwide, including two in Buffalo: North Hall in the former First Church of Christ, Scientist in Allentown, and Porter Hall on the West Side. Traveling exhibits, highlighting historic documents of all descriptions, rotate among all twelve branches.
The Karpeles Manuscript Library Museums is one of the largest private collections of historic manuscripts and documents in the world. It was founded in 1983 by California real estate magnates David Karpeles and Marsha Karpeles, with the goal of stimulating interest in learning, especially in children, and to make the collection more accessible, was distributed among many Karpeles museums across the US, each located in a historic building, plus "mini-museums" in schools and office buildings. Items are rotated between museums quarterly. Many museum locations have been permanently closed and buildings sold. The remaining museums are located in Duluth, Minnesota until the building sells and in St. Augustine, Florida, in a brand new and updated space. In addition, Karpeles is aggressively expanding the content of its website. All of the Karpeles Manuscript Library services are free. The museums are located in small and midsize cities, although the Karpeles family put on an exhibit in Central Park West in New York City in 1991. As of June 2023, there are ten museums.
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The ¡Buen Vivir! Gallery is in the former B West Studios, right next door to the headquarters of the Global Justice Ecology Project that operates the space under the curatorship of its board chairman, local photojournalist Orin Langelle, an intrepid artist-cum-activist who has risked his life in some of the most geographically and politically inhospitable regions of the world to create works with a focus on the effects of climate change and other environmental catastrophes, as well as other social and human rights injustices — "concerned photography", he has dubbed his genre. The gallery's name in Spanish translates to "living well", which is meant to signify the harmonious coexistence of humans with the Earth, and which is fitting of the hopeful and uplifting message that shines through in the work displayed here despite the harshness of its subject matter.
Located in the Elmwood Avenue offices of Autism Services, Inc. — a disability services organization that's famous for using art therapy as a cornerstone of its treatment plans — Atrium 124 Gallery shows changing exhibitions of work by local artists with autism, Asperger's syndrome, and related disabilities.
An art appraiser and philanthropist who was responsible for, among other accomplishments, directing the selection and inclusion of public art displays in the NFTA Metro Rail system, Nina Freudenheim has operated her eponymous art gallery on the first floor of the Hotel Lenox since 1975. Both the permanent collection of the gallery and the traveling exhibitions that are held reflect the curator's enduring commitment to showing the finest contemporary art, craft and photography by both well-established and emerging artists. The Nina Freudenheim Gallery has placed works in a number of prestigious institutions including the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. as well as Buffalo's own Albright-Knox Art Gallery. In addition, fine art consulting and appraisal services are also offered.
A comprehensive list of all the architecturally and historically significant private homes in Allentown and the Delaware District would make this article far too lengthy to be useful; however, the two-story, front-gabled Italianate cottage at 29 Irving Place in Allentown is especially significant for a number of reasons. First and foremost, this is the house where F. Scott Fitzgerald, famous as the writer of The Great Gatsby and other magnificent works of Jazz Age literature, lived for five years during his childhood. Fitzgerald moved with his family to Irving Place at the age of seven, in 1903, after having lived briefly in the Hotel Lenox on North Street and then in Syracuse for a few years. His childhood friends said later that even at this young age, his intellectual curiosity and interest in literature as a student at Nardin Academy were apparent. Though his family was forced to move away after his father lost his job, he remembered his childhood in Buffalo fondly; even today, it does not take much imagination to envision Irving Place as a setting for some of the scenes in his novels. The later history of the house is a testament to Allentown's decline and rebirth after the stock market crash of 1929; by 1970, when its current owners purchased the place and restored it to its former glory, it had degraded into a seedy rooming house rented to scruffy transients. The F. Scott Fitzgerald House is also notable for having one of the few examples remaining in Buffalo of an intact Italianate portico — a style that is ubiquitous in Allentown.
This combination café, art gallery and boutique concert hall opened in February 2013 in a beautifully restored Italianate cottage on Wadsworth Street. Presented here is an exciting range of music that is more adventurous than the typical Allentown fare, with chamber music, Latin jazz, tango, and a diverse range of other artists sharing space on the schedule. The work of local artists hangs on the walls, and the bar features a selection of fine wines and a limited menu of light meals.
In addition to the local rock bands and stand-up comedians that perform at Hardware on a frequent basis, the "Back Room" plays host to free jazz concerts every Monday night.