Babeville I
n 1995, stones began to fall from the 19th century church that Buffalo now calls Babeville. They tumbled from their place on that skyward steeple to the streets below, the future of this monument crumbling upon impact. Identified as a safety hazard and a bygone relic with little left to offer, it was condemned to demolition by the city. But a very grounded Buffalo gal by the name of Ani Difranco saw another fate for the building, the last standing vestige of architect John Selkirk. Recognized as an energetic defender of individualism and artistic freedom, Difranco seemed the perfect person to interject. With longtime friend and manager Scot Fisher, the musician set out to preserve a hometown treasure. Initially, the pair answered the call for intervention as concerned members of Buffalo’s tight-knit community. “Tearing it down was a bad response on many levels,” said Fisher. “When your gutter falls off your house, you don’t tear the house down, you get a new gutter.” He went on to discuss the “American wastefulness” that threatens buildings like this one, and the loss of sentimental value that often results from that characteristic “American” ease, so to speak. However, as he recalled, at the time neither Difranco nor himself had any intention of purchasing the building. In 2001, after a slow process, change of heart, and change of vision, Difranco took ownership of the building. Fisher remembers Difranco saying of the decision, “I could invest in the stock market, or I could invest in my community.” In 2003, the extensive renovations began with stoneworkers “hanging from the steeple like climbers from a mountain.” “I thought that purchasing the church was the peak, the renovation, the culmination. It was only the beginning,” said Fisher. “I was completely unprepared.” Babeville, formerly dubbed “The Church,” amended on account of a priest’s reminder that the space was decidedly no longer a church, was getting a second life which exceeded
Photos, Story and Design by Josie Martin
the expectations of even those with the most hope in it. Within Difranco’s vision, which changed the destiny of the once doomed monument, was a concert hall. Architecturally and acoustically dynamic; thus was born Asbury Hall. As chance would have it, the peak of the church’s resurrection also coincided with the end of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center’s five year lease at TriMain. Ed Cardoni, Executive Director at Hallwalls, who had been friends with Fisher and Difranco, jumped on the chance to collaborate. “To be affiliated with Ani Difranco, Righteous Babe Records and the political consciousness there is all really great. Not only were we a part of the resurgence of Delaware Avenue and downtown Buffalo, we were a leading force,” Cardoni boasted. So, with Babeville as the umbrella sheltering Righteous Babe Records, Hallwalls, Asbury Hall and the Ninth Ward, the structure, with its steeple pointing always to the sky, reentered the Buffalo community as a worthwhile space. “It could have just been a parking lot,” Fisher quipped. But what is Babeville today? What will it be tomorrow? The saviors of Babeville do not view this building as a “static image of an architect’s craftsmanship,” though it is indeed very beautiful. Rather, it is described by Fisher as “a tool to look toward the future, only.” Gazing up at the dark brick arching high above, sunlight shining through stained glass, worn wood balconies circling around Asbury Hall, empty, eerie and stunning; one gets lost in the splendor of a different time. But the real beauty is in the present. Babeville is living and thriving. Things are happening there. “We wanted people to know Babeville and to say, ‘I don’t know what’s going on there, but it must be good,’” said Fisher, with a certain tone of reverie. “That was a great show last weekend, so and so is getting married there next month… That’s eternal.” Though the success of the project in itself is something to note as inspiring, the real victory here is the true insight that lies within the community. There is something beyond simply giving a building new life and meaning here. As Fisher said, “There are a lot of allies. A lot of people feel responsible for our success.” It is true; Ani Difranco and Scot Fisher are responsible for fighting the demolition plans for the church. But were it not for Buffalo, and the individuals who saw something in the church and contributed to the project, it very well might have been paved over and painted on with parking lines. Babeville was a project taken on by many people and is currently giving back to so many more. That is sensational. That is community. That is inspiration; hope for all the things that can be. Page 17