Campus News

Vantage points offer memorable views

view of Niagara Falls from Clemens Hall.

You can see Niagara Falls from the 10th floor of Clemens. Photo: Douglas Levere

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final installment in the UB Reporter’s tour of spots on campus that hold special emotions, memories and good karma for UB faculty, staff and students.

By CHARLES ANZALONE

Published August 26, 2016 This content is archived.

Print

The idea was to find perches, views of campus that took in the UB world and its surroundings. Surely, with all the high-rise buildings around, insiders must know of good spots. One co-worker remembered a picnic table on the roof of Fronczak Hall he came across when he was watching Fourth of July fireworks. Find the freight elevator, he suggested, and follow it to the top.

In pursuit of the best UB vantage points, a field experiment showed the Fronczak roof was indeed accessible by freight elevator. After a few hydraulic-like maneuvers reminiscent of a how movies portray the steam room of ocean liners, the doors do open to the glories of the Fronczak roof.

Reader alert: There is no picnic table. And no comfortable Adirondack chairs. There is, however, “Warning; Hazardous Voltage” signs with a human stick figure jumping in the air from a perceived shock.

The place also resembles those chase scenes in movies where police pursue suspects who fling themselves across gaps between rooftops. Thrilling, but not quite the place to take in an idyllic scene. So scratch all plans to view campus life — fireworks or anything else — from that particular vantage point.

Not to worry. There are other places with safe boundaries and memorable views on all three UB campuses. Here is a sampling, although there certainly are others.

Clemens Hall.

Clemens Hall, North Campus

Jennifer Elinge, the receptionist in the Department of English, remembers watching campus life unfold from the windows of the 10th floor. She and co-workers have watched thousands of students form the interlocking UB during Opening Weekend on the field opposite the Student Union. The sight of a helicopter hovering outside at eye level was striking, she says.

Alas, the room from which she watches this scene is a conference room, locked when not in use. But Elinge, who sets the standard for helpful administrative support person, has a suggestion.

There are several spots in the hallway that offer great views, she says. And sure enough, there are windows on both ends of the 10th-floor hallway that offer great views of the buffalo sculpture in front of the Center for the Arts. And part of Lake LaSalle. The window on the north end of the building, nearest the Student Union, is the best.

“You can still see over the campus,” Elinge says. “It gives you a whole other perspective to see where you walk every day and take for granted. It just gives you a different reference point, and you can see what weather is coming our way, too.

“It’s like being in that helicopter, but without all that air between you and the ground.”

That’s just the start for the 10th floor of Clemens. The view from the offices within Room 1004, which recently became the home base of the Department of Transnational Studies, rivals English’s enclave.

Karen Reinard, graduate coordinator for Transnational Studies, and Kathryn Manganaro, undergraduate secretary, are the first to greet visitors. It’s at their discretion, remember. They have an office and department to tend to. But maybe some resourceful visitors looking for a quick peek might not be turned away. Try bringing doughnuts.

It’s worth it, and Reinard is appropriately proud of the view. It’s panoramic, truly. There’s a full view of Lake LaSalle that includes the bright colors of the canoes and kayaks available to take out on the lake. The background with its comforting trees is nice and green, compared with everything else around it in mid-August. Baird Point looks stately. The sight was particularly memorable when President Obama came to Alumni Arena three years ago and the line of people waiting to get into the arena snaked a mile along Putnam Way.

“You really have to see the view to fully appreciate it,” Reinard says. “Before the TNS department office moved to the 10th floor this summer, we were located on the seventh floor. The seventh-floor view was impressive. However, the 10th-floor view is spectacular, especially in fall.”

For the record, access to the roof of Clemens is sealed off, just to save anyone from reckless thoughts. Metal bars block the trap doors to the roof. The color scheme of bright red pipes with silver details, terra cotta walls and big black numbers announcing the floor would, however, make a striking design for a contemporary art gallery.

Goodtear Hall.

Goodyear X, 10th floor, Goodyear Hall, South Campus

Without a doubt, the top floor of Goodyear residence hall presents one of the best UB views, bar none. This one looks across Main Street from the South Campus. Look beyond the aerial view of Tops and Walgreens, and hope for a clear day. A distant but recognizable Niagara Falls skyline is clearly visible when conditions are right.

The helpful people in the Main Street Area Office of Campus Living who supervise and book Goodyear X, which is what the penthouse-like room is called, encourage use of the room. It’s open much of the day during the semester, depending on whether there are work-study students available to man the upstairs desk. Students and staff with UB ID — Goodyear is locked to outsiders — are welcome take the elevator up and study, or lounge in the comfy seats.

Goodyear X is open for groups, too. Call 829-3144 to hear ground rules for booking the space. Worth noting, too, is a “powder room” to the left as you get off the elevator. It’s an odd throwback, resembling a behind-the-scenes dressing room for live theater. And the ping pong table and snack bar facilities in the main space present possibilities for creative good times and team-building.

Without going to the roof.

There’s also a good look at the majestic UB buildings to the south — including the clock tower of Hayes Hall — from a sixth-floor lounge. Not the penthouse, but still not too shabby.

Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Downtown Campus

When UB’s shining new medical school opens on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and takes its rightful place as a downtown landmark, it’s going to have some of the most memorable lookouts around. Picture a front-row seat in the middle of all the action of a city’s revival. That’s what the building will offer once it’s open for business in 2017.

For now, the cranes and scores of workers and dust and girders and safety signs are a distraction. But clearly, the spot looking down Allen Street from Main Street will be a hospitable and enclosed vantage point for medical school faculty, staff and students to watch their city evolve into the vibrant environment that just a few years ago seemed like a pipe dream.

Each floor will have a learning landscape — student lounge and study spaces — that looks out over the evolving downtown.

And any of those floors offers a perfect elevation to watch progress on the renovation of the Red Jacket Building, the historic building with the vibrant red brick façade named after a Seneca chief who befriended George Washington.

And there’s more. Look down Main Street toward the clearly visible marquee of Shea’s Performing Arts Center. Or raise your eyes beyond to what’s behind it: a view of an imposing Lake Erie.

Here’s the thing: The other side of the building, looking east, is equally impressive. There are views of the storied Buffalo Central Terminal and at least two of the towering Old World churches near the Broadway Market. The best places to take a look are still being worked out. But the views now through the makeshift windows — or especially the air surrounding the construction elevators — can take away a breath or two.

Talk about vantage points. The new home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will offer a view, all right. A ringside seat to the future.