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History and Architectural Origins of New York State Armories
Built as Castle-like Fortresses
Built to house local units of the state's volunteer militia, New York Army National Guard armories are among the most imposing monuments to the role of the citizen soldier in American military history. Approximately 120 armories were built in New York State between ca. 1799 and ca. 1940. Most date from the last quarter of the nineteenth century when the National Guard was America's primary domestic peacekeeper during the post Civil War era of labor-capital conflict. As a building type, armories served as arms storage facilities, clubhouses for the militiamen, and civic monuments symbolizing New York's determination to preserve domestic law and order via military might. Most armories—particularly those built during the last two decades of the nineteenth century—were medieval-inspired, castle-like fortresses.
Of the nearly 120 armories built in the state, about half survive and some still house National Guard units. The remaining buildings serve a variety of purposes: some are owned by local governments and house community education and/or recreation services; some are privately owned and house commercial enterprises or residential units. Together, all extant armories chronicle the history of the volunteer militia from its emergence during the early Republican Era, through its heyday during the Gilded Age as the backbone of the American military system, to its early twentieth century role as the nation's primary armed reserve force.
Armory Chronicled
In 2006, the book New York’s Historic Armories – An Illustrated History, written by Nancy Todd, was published by the State University of New York. A copy is available to prospective buyers. In the publication, the “Tonawanda Armory” is featured as one of the few remaining examples of the famous architect Isaac G. Perry.
A Unique Building Type
The Seventh Regiment Armory, built on fashionable Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1882, marked the establishment of the armory as a unique building type in America and immediately became the standard that inspired armory construction in the United States during the next half century. Built for Manhattan's elite "Silk Stocking" regiment (one of the country's oldest and most distinguished units), the Seventh Regiment Armory was—and still is—nationally renowned for its spectacular interiors by L.C. Tiffany and Stanford White.
By the early 1880s, New York embarked upon a large-scale military building campaign. Dozens of massive armories were built all across the state during the next two decades. Inspired by the Seventh Regiment Armory, all incorporated design features associated with medieval Gothic military architecture, such as towers, turrets, bastions, crenelated parapets, machicolated cornices, sallyports and/or portcullises.
Richardsonian Romanesque Architecture
Those built in Upstate New York after 1880 were overseen by the New York State Armory Board and all were designed by state architects appointed by the governor. The Tonawanda Armory was one of about thirty armories designed by State Architect Isaac G. Perry during the 1890s. While Perry continued to employ features associated with medieval military architecture, he also used his personal favorite, the Richardsonian Romanesque idiom, to enliven and distinguish his castellated fortresses. For reference, see http://freenet.buffalo.edu/bah/a/archsty/rom/index.html#Essential where other examples can be seen in Buffalo churches, the old Post Office, and the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.)
Perry's armories were generally asymmetrical in form and massing; in most cases, the asymmetry was exaggerated by multi-storied comer towers. The majority were characterized by polychromatic masonry elements, including red brick walls trimmed with contrasting limestone. Many featured massive, stone-trimmed sally ports with protective portcullises, crenelated parapets and machicolated cornices; several incorporated elaborate, Richardsonian Romanesque-like stone carvings and tile mosaics. Fenestration in Perry's armories generally was asymmetrical, with irregularly placed groups of tall, narrow windows—usually with protective iron grilles—predominating. All were military facilities as well as fraternal clubhouses for members of the local unit.
After 1900, changes in America's social, economic and political order and the consequent changes in the National Guard impacted the state's armory construction program. At home, the dangerous classes had been subdued; abroad, the United States had entered the international scene as victors of the Spanish American War of 1898. Fledgling state police forces now contained sporadic civil unrest, and a centralized, "regular" army emerged to fulfill America's global military responsibilities. By 1903, the passage of the Dick Act formalized the evolution of the state-controlled militia into a reserve force of the federal armed forces. Armories built after 1900 still served primarily as military facilities; however, secondary roles, such as local civic centers, became increasingly important.
Historic Significance of the Tonawanda Armory
Nearly 120 armories were built in New York State between 1799 and 1940. Designed to house local units of the state's volunteer militia and, later, the New York Army National Guard, these armories are architecturally and historically significant reminders of the role of the National Guard in American military history. Many of these armories are massive, castellated style, masonry buildings inspired by medieval Gothic military architecture found in Europe. All follow the formula established for armory construction after the Civil War, with each one consisting of a handsome administration building, also know as a headhouse, with an attached exhibit hall featuring unobstructed floor space sheltered by an expansive roof supported by massive steel trusses. Most of the headhouses are distinguished by multi-story towers, highly decorative brick and stone construction and decoration, large sally ports with protective portcullises. Many of the pre-1930 headhouses feature finely Grafted interior finishes such as hardwood floors, elaborate mantelpieces, oak trim around door and window openings, pressed tin ceilings, and/or elegant wall paneling or wainscoting.
The Tonawanda Armory is one of the fanciest and most intact examples of Perry's work, complete with a broad range of elaborate oak woodwork in virtually every interior space. Built in 1896-97 for Tonawanda's Twenty-fifth Separate Company of western New York's Fourth Brigade, the Tonawanda Armory is an imposing brick and stone building with a variety of round and octagonal towers and a recessed, formal entrance porch decorated with an arcade of three large, round-topped, stone-trimmed arches. Of particular note is the raised foundation built of roughly hewn stone blocks that accentuate the fortress like character of the building.
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