Explore Niagara and western New York with Attingham Alumni and Friends in
BUFFALO, NEW YORK
June 5-8, 2025
Just 2 places left!
Buffalo is more than just chicken wings and snow! Join us for a masterclass in architectural history, outstanding collections of decorative arts, and iconic landscapes on the shore of Lake Erie in the City of Good Neighbors. The Erie Canal made Buffalo one of America’s most vital cities in the 19th- and early-20th centuries, attracting business and industry and bringing with it key architectural contributions and Frederic Law Olmsted’s first full system of interconnected parks and parkways, representing one of his largest bodies of work.
Clockwise from left: The Richardson Hotel, designed by H.H. Richardson in 1870 as the Buffalo State Hospital; Hallway of the The AKG (formerly, Albright-Knox Gallery) © Regan Vercruysse, 2023, Flickr; Card “The Less You Require Looking After…” ca. 1906-10, courtesy, Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State University; The Guaranty Building © Mike Schriver, Buffalophotoblog.com; Darwin Martin House © photo by Alexis Mucha, 2017; detail of leaded glass ceiling © Photo by Alexis Mucha, 2017.
Our exploration commences Wednesday evening with an optional cocktail reception at the National Historic Landmark, The Richardson Hotel Buffalo, designed by H. H. Richardson in 1870 as the Buffalo State Hospital and set amidst 40-acres of landscape and grounds designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. This respite in the heart of the city will be our welcoming base as we explore the area’s history, landscapes, art, architecture, and restaurants.
Thursday morning begins with a rich survey of American architecture—a walking tour led by Preservation Buffalo Niagara, including the Council Chambers of the Art Deco classic City Hall (1932), Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler‘s terra cotta ornament of the Guaranty Building (1895-86), the glass-covered concourse of Ellicott Square (1896) designed by Daniel Burnham, and the gleaming M&T Bank (1901) designed by E. B. Green and William S. Wicks. After lunch, Executive Director Scott Propeak of the Burchfield Penney Art Center will showcase furniture by Arts & Crafts designers Charles Rohlfs and Elbert Hubbard. That evening, we will enjoy wine and canapés while touring a private garden on Oakland Place designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman with artist and environmental advocate Rebecca Allen before dinner at a fourth-generation-led Italian restaurant.
On Friday, we will traverse Frederick Law Olmstead’s impressive network of parks and parkways, stopping at Front Park, Cazenovia Park, and South Park, with historian Lauren Becker, before we experience the acoustic magic of Kleinhans Music Hall (1938), designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Lunch will be at Cornelia in the newly renovated and expanded Buffalo AKG Art Museum, bordering Olmstead’s Delaware Park, followed by a special tour. The evening concludes at a private home on historic Lincoln Parkway designed by Esenwein and Johnson (late 1920s) before dinner downtown at Eckl’s at Larkin, operating from an early 19th-century building in historic Larkinville.
Saturday will celebrate American Arts & Crafts furniture, metalwork, printing, and stained glass, beginning with a behind-the-scenes look of the National Historic Landmark Roycroft Campus in East Aurora. After a casual lunch, the group travels west to the shore of Lake Erie, where Executive Director Anna Kaplan, of Graycliff Estate, will welcome us to the summer home Isabelle R. Martin, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the late 1920s and featuring grounds designed by Shipman. That afternoon, we return to Buffalo and finish the day with a special tour of the Martin House, Wright’s gesamtkunstwerk restored in 2019. An outdoor cocktail reception followed by a sumptuous dinner in the museum’s Greatbatch Pavilion designed by Toshiko Mori Architects, promises to be a high point of the weekend.
Sunday’s offerings include a private boat tour led by experts from Buffalo River History Tours and an opportunity to disembark and step inside a stunning, post-industrial marvel at Silo City, the grandest collection of concrete grain elevators in the world, built in the early 20th century and today a pathbreaking site of ecological restoration, community engagement and contemporary art. The program concludes at 2pm.
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A very special thank you to Alexis Mucha ’14, Queen City native and Director of Rights, Sales, Production, and Promotion for the Bard Graduate Center, for hosting the 2025 Study Trip.
REGISTRATION AND TRAVEL INFORMATION
TRIP DATES Registration and check-in begins at the hotel at 9:00 a.m., Thursday, June 5. Our program ends after a farewell lunch on Sunday, June 8, finishing in the early afternoon.
Please note there is an optional, pre-trip cocktail hour on Wednesday, June 4, at 6:00 p.m.
COST The cost of the Study Trip is $1,600 per person, inclusive of a $300 donation to AFA, tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. This trip fee includes all tours fees and entrances, three meals a day, drinks, and transportation during the trip.
REGISTRATION To register, please complete this Google Form (click here). Alternatively, you may download and complete the “American Friends of Attingham Study Trip 2025 Registration Form” (link forthcoming). Please submit a PDF of your completed registration form via email to
Registration is limited to 25 people and we fully expect this trip to sell out. If you’re not able to register, we will gladly add your name to a wait-list should a place become available. Please complete this short Google Form to add your name to our Interested and Wait List (click here).
The deadline to register is Monday, May 5, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
Do you wish you could attend, but unfortunately cannot? Consider making a contribution to our scholarship appeal instead! Doing so will put you in touch with a young scholar who will share their course report and images with you. You can make a contribution via our website (click here) or you can mail a check to our office at 205 Lexington Avenue, Suite 901, New York, NY 10016. Please contact AFA Administrator, Erin Kuykendall, if you have any questions. Thank you for your support!
SCHOLARSHIPS The American Friend of Attingham is pleased to offer one full scholarship for this domestic study trip. To apply for a scholarship, please complete your AFA Study Trip Scholarship Application after submitting the 2025 Study Trip Registration Form above.
The deadline to apply for a scholarship has been extended to May 5.
PAYMENT A minimum deposit of $300 per person is required upon registration. Payments can be made online by debit or credit card – click here – or by mailing a check to the American Friends of Attingham, 205 Lexington Avenue, Suite 901, New York, NY 10016. Your place on the trip will be confirmed once your deposit is received. The final balance is due by May 5, 2025. All participants must have paid in full to participate in the complete itinerary. Please be aware that late payments are subject to an additional service fee.
WAIVER Once your deposit is confirmed, please complete the “American Friends of Attingham Study Trip 2025 Waiver of Liability” (click here). Please submit your waiver via email to or send by mail to the American Friends of Attingham, 205 Lexington Avenue, Suite 901, New York, 10016. All participants must have signed the waiver to participate in the itinerary. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
CANCELLATION POLICY In the event that you must cancel your place with us, the amount of your refund depends on the date of cancellation and on whether a replacement attendee is found. Please note that your preliminary deposit is non-refundable and will be considered a tax-deductible and charitable contribution to our scholarship fund should you cancel at any time. Cancellation within 15 days of the trip without a replacement attendee will result in a forfeiture of 100% of the fees. Cancellation of the trip within 30 days without a replacement will result in a forfeiture of 50% of the full fee. If we are able to find a replacement attendee for your place on the trip, then you may receive a full refund of the trip fees.
HOTEL Kindly note that participants are responsible for making their own hotel reservations. There is a room block reserved at The Richardson Hotel, located at 444 Forest Avenue, for a nightly rate starting at $219 + tax. To book a room, please call the hotel sales coordinator, Cara LoVullo, directly at (716) 493-2610 ext. 7006 and mention American Friends of Attingham to receive this discounted rate. The group rates expire on May 4, 2025, and the rate can be used from Wednesday, June 4, 2025 – Sunday, June 8, 2025. Note that your credit card will not be charged at the time of your reservation; you may cancel your reservation at any time prior to two days before arrival.
Participants may wish to consider alternate accommodations, from the upscale Hotel @ The Lafayette (391 Washington Street) or the city’s only AAA diamond-rated boutique hotel, Mansion on Delaware (414 Delaware Avenue), to more budget-friendly options such as the Hyatt Regency (Two Fountain Plaza) or the downtown Embassy Suites by Hilton (200 Delaware Avenue).
Please note that all activities will depart by bus from The Richardson.
GETTING THERE The Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) is the closest airport to the hotel, located 9.5-miles east, or about 17-minutes by car.
Guests traveling to Buffalo by Amtrak will enjoy a scenic ride north along the Maple Leaf Line to the Buffalo, Exchange Street Station, located at 75 Exchange Street. Since the mid-19th century, Exchange Street has been synonymous with the railroad. The red brick depot is south of Coca-Cola Field and within walking distance of famous Niagara Square.
The Richardson Hotel has free, on-site parking for those guests wishing to drive. Self-parking and street parking is not permitted. For information about hotel parking restrictions and guidelines, please call the hotel at (716) 493-2610.
Participants will be responsible for their own travel transfers to and from their accommodations. The hotel does not offer a free shuttle service for guests arriving from/departing to any local airport, so please plan accordingly.
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For any questions, please contact: or call (212) 682-6840.
Itinerary and information subject to change.
Above: Detail of the stunning Art Deco semicircular skylight depicting the heavens from the Buffalo City Hall Council Chamber, designed by architects George J. Dietel and John J. Wade and built between 1929-31. Image by Alexis Mucha, 2017. Top of page: Detail of the upper central panel of the stained glass window, New Jerusalem, installed in the east transept of First Presbyterian Church in 1916 by Tiffany Studios.