The Lafayette Hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19.  While the circa-1904 building has been a long-time official city landmark, its listing on the National Register was pushed by developer Rocco Termini.  Termini needs federal preservation tax credits that are available to listed properties to help finance his $35 million reuse plan for the property.  The National Register is administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The seven-story hotel may be a bit shabby today, but it has a distinguished past and a potentially bright future if Termini can work his proven magic on the property.  From the Buffalo as an Architectural Museum website:

Like a number of hotels and small apartment buildings in Buffalo, the Lafayette Hotel was planned to be ready for the expected influx of visitors at the Pan-American Exposition in 1901. But financial problems delayed the hotel opening until 1904.

A handsome red brick and white terra cotta French Renaissance-style building, it was designed principally by Louise Blanchard Bethune of the respected Buffalo architectural firm of Bethune, Bethune and Fuchs. She was the first professional woman architect in the country, the first female member of the American Institute of Architects, and the first woman to be made a Fellow of the A.I.A.

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our historic and archeological resources.