Buffalo, NY: Larkin Factory, Office Buildings and Predecessor 1827 Hydraulics District

Office: (Satellite, the 1904 Frank Lloyd Wright designed administration building was torn down in 1950.)

Factories: (Satellite, between Seneca & Exchange Streets and the tracks and Hydraulic Street.)

These are some of the factory buildings.

Street View, Sep 2017

Scott Porter posted
1924 aerial view of the Larkin Co Inc factory, Buffalo, NY.

Larkin started by making soap products. Their marking approach of selling directly to the consumer was successful, and Larkin expanded their product line "into selling toiletries, furniture, lamps, home products and a myriad of other items. As the quantity and variety of the products produced by the company increased, the size and scale of the production factory also grew." As was tradition, the clerical workers were housed in the factories next to the production lines. Since the clerical workers were female, they decided that a better work environment would make it easier to attract and retain clerks. So, in 1904 they hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design an administration building, and it was completed in 1906. "By 1925 the company manufactured a majority of the over nine-hundred catalog items in its expansive factory complex which covered over sixteen-and-a-half acres on Seneca Street in the Hydraulics. In addition to their own soaps, cleansers, cosmetics, perfume, pharmaceuticals and food, they offered consumers everything from clothing and furniture to utensils and radios." [buffaloah_larkin]

This was Wright's design. Looking at the above aerial photo, it appears that the building had two courthouses to provide plenty of daylight to the offices.

buffaloah_admin

The retaining wall that we see on the left side of the above diagram still exists.

Street View, Jun 2025

This parking lot was the location of the admin building. In addition to the white largest factory building, the powerhouse has been repurposed.

Street View, Jun 2025

1827 Hydraulics District

The Buffalo History Gazette posted

Some people were not familiar with the Hydraulics district and it's name, in my previous posts so I've included a map showing some of the canals in the area as they existed in 1872, and a brief description.

The Hydraulics neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, was founded in 1827 as the city's first industrial, manufacturing district. As early as the late-eighteenth century, Captain William Johnston erected a sawmill on the Little Buffalo Creek.  Long since gone underground, the Little Buffalo Creek originated in a marshy pond near William Street east of Babcock,  and made its way to the Buffalo River about where Commercial slip is today.  In this depiction of 1872 the hydraulic canals ran into the Hamburgh Street Canal which connected to the Erie Canal at Main Street.

The Buffalo Hydraulic Association was incorporated in 1827, utilizing water from Little Buffalo Creek via a constructed canal to power early mills, including grist mills, sawmills, and breweries etc. 

(1875-1940s): John D. Larkin moved his soap manufacturing company to the area in 1876, transforming the district into a major commercial hub.  The area became known as the "Larkin District", including the now-demolished Larkin Administration Building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Eric Bloomquist: I was told by an employee at LCO that in the basement it was possible to hear the water rushing below your feet from that old mill race.

The Buffalo History Gazette: Eric Bloomquist I believe it. The Little Buffalo Creek waterway is still there underground.

The Little Buffalo Creek had been buried by 1894.

1894/94 Buffalo Quad @ 62,500