We're Going In: The Brutalist Observation Tower
Concrete looms over Buffalo's waterfront. The climb starts here.
On a beautiful Memorial Day, with blue skies, Canalside came alive. After days of rain and chill, it was suddenly summer.
Locking up my Reddy bike at the military park, I immediately saw action. The park was full, as families paid tribute to lost soldiers and sailors. Tiny flags fluttered in the breeze. Tourists walked the waterfront. The season’s first sailboats bobbed on the water.
I had an hour to spare before a ride on the Moondance catamaran. What to do? In the distance, the answer appeared.
The brutalist observation tower.
Wouldn’t it be fun to look over this bright vista?
I made my way toward the tower, walking along the waterfront. It is not a bucolic stroll. You cannot listen to the lapping of the waves, the calls of the seagulls. The farther you get from the military park, the louder things get. The ice cream stand blares rock. Foul language assaults you. (One tow-headed kid on a bike, to his friend: “Bruh, I’m f—ing exhausted.”)
Nearing the tower, you pass a long row of cars parked facing the water. The drivers are inside, some blaring their sound systems. You get the skunky smell of pot.
Well, this all adds to our brutalist experience. Up close, the tower casts an uncompromising shadow over the scene.
We’re going in!
Up the Concrete Staircase
This video allows you to ascend with me in real time! It is just about three minutes long, so that is how long the trip takes.
Howard, my husband, watched it and said: “It looks like a horror movie.”
It was not exactly! However the journey is suspenseful, thanks to the tower’s rugged, forbidding design. You get the feeling it was meant to be, and it was. Brutalism, which came into vogue in the 1950s, puts function over form. As Chuck LaChiusa explains on his excellent local architecture site, Buffalo got a good dose of brutalist architecture.
Our observation tower illustrates the raw aesthetic.
One thing to keep in mind: We may think brutalism ugly, but there are those who value it. A Facebook friend of mine, from Finland, once visited Buffalo specifically to pay homage to our brutalist landmarks. It’s true!
Reaching the Top
Whatever your feelings on Brutalism, they fade when you reach the top of the tower.
The view is just so stunning!
It’s just you, the sky, the lake, and this glorious day. The others who have made the climb stand quietly too, all taking it in.
And somehow, the beauty feels more intense after the starkness of the climb. Maybe that’s Brutalism’s secret agenda.
Not to replace beauty — but to reveal it.
Mary Kunz Goldman is known in Buffalo for her long career with The Buffalo News, writing about classical music and authoring the long-running Buzz column as well as a popular series titled “100 Things Every Western New Yorker Should Do At Least Once.” She is the author of “Pennario,” a bittersweet memoir about her friendship with the great concert pianist Leonard Pennario — and also “Sketches of Buffalo,” a book of drawings of her hometown, available at the Totally Buffalo Store.
Mary’s weekly feature “We’re Going In” celebrates curious adventures around town. Our previous “We’re Going In” column featured the Great Baehre Swamp. Before that, the series explored Mount Calvary Cemetery; also, a Goodwill madhouse known as “the bins”; a memorable Met opera simulcast; and a journey through the Junior League’s 2025 Decorators Show House.
Thanks to all who subscribe! To get a look at Mary’s complete online publication, click on MaryKunzGoldman.Substack.com.
It's truly an ugly building, but the views! Worth the trip! Thank you, Mary.
Next up: The St. Augustine lighthouse!!!