About Parkside

About Parkside | Schools | Churches | Getting To Parkside | Parking

About Parkside

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) believed in the restorative effects of beauty as expressed in nature and park settings. In 1868, he and Calvert Vaux were commissioned to carve a network of parks and parkways across Buffalo, New York. It was to be the first coordinated system of public parks in America. The crown jewel of their plan was a 350-acre complex of green meadows, tranquil waterways, and curving avenues known as Delaware Park.

Olmsted recognized that abutting farmland on the northeastern perimeter of the park served as a buffer against the burgeoning industrial city, so he expanded his initial proposal to include these several hundred acres. To make this buffer more permanent and to preclude industrialization of the area, he applied his visionary principles to design Buffalo's first suburb. From its inception, the planned community was named "Parkside," a neighborhood inseparable from the park.

The area quickly drew the rich and professionals from the city. Over the next 40 years, the development of Parkside was gradually and methodically completed. Major architects such as H.H. Richardson (1838-1886), E.B. Green (1855-1950), William Sydney Wicks (1854-1919), August Esenwein (1856-1926), and Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) designed houses with styles ranging from late Victorian, Queen Anne, Romanesque and Tudor Revival to Shingle, Bungalow, and Prairie Style for the residents.

In 1987, the entire neighborhood of Parkside became an Architectural Landscape District on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, through the efforts of the Parkside Community Association and Parkside residents, the neighborhood (now a part of the City of Buffalo) is unmatched for its stable blend of social, safety, and affordability factors.

Attractions

Parkside is located in the heart of Buffalo's cultural corridor, and boasts such attractions as Delaware Park, the Buffalo Zoo, and the Darwin D. Martin House within its boundaries. In addition, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, and Forest Lawn Cemetery are just outside Parkside.

For more information about cultural attractions in and around Parkside, visit our Attractions page.

History

The Parkside neighborhood, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, was the first planned suburb of a major American city. For more on the history of Parkside, please visit our History page.

Schools

Churches

Getting to Parkside

Whether walking, driving, or biking, the Parkside district is conveniently located. The Scajaquada Expressway (Route 198, or "the 198") links the neighborhood to the major highways of Buffalo and the bridges to Canada. Under Main Street, at the eastern boundary of the neighborhood, the Metro Rail subway system connects the neighborhood with both downtown Buffalo to the west, and with the University at Buffalo's South Campus to the east. Parkside is also served by several bus lines. For more information about Metro Rail and bus schedules, visit the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.

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Parking

Parking varies from street to street and block to block. Many streets have alternate side of the street parking, so be sure to read the signs when you park on the street. If you're going to the Zoo, it's most convenient to park in the Zoo's parking lot to avoid having to cross busy streets.