Lafayette Hotel--page 1 (of two pages)

Louise Blanchard Bethune, the first female member of the American Institute of Architects and the first woman to be made a Fellow of the A.I.A., worked in Buffalo as an architect, eventually opening an office with her husband, Robert Armour Bethune in 1881.
Researchers believe that Louise Bethune was the primary design architect for this 225-room hotel. This French Renaissance Revival hotel was considered to be one of the best in the United States.
Floors articulated differently The lowest register consists of arched windows and noticable rustication. (I suspect the blue keystone accents are not original.) The second register has different windows, here framed and elaborately pedimented with decorative brackets. Lovely iron balstrades march across this story with bays, on careful analysis, that aren't quite identical. The very top register--with a lower ceiling? is different as well. The center rows are essentially identical in fenestration, each window with a decorative capstone.
		Central bay with double windows

Click here to return to index of art historical sites.

Click here to return to index of artists and architects.

Click here to return to chronological index.

Click here to see the home page of Bluffton University.