The old and venerable Blossom Hotel stood on the north side of Main Street, near the corner of St. Paul Street. A respite for travelers along road or canal, the Blossom Hotel enjoyed a high profile reputation.

Wamsley Brothers was comprised of Joseph, Thomas, and Edward Wamsley, milliners and silk merchants. The Wamsleys moved their business from No. 55 Main Street [the “Emporium Building”] into the Blossom Hotel Block in 1853.

The Wamsley Brothers’ original store was No. 14 Catherine Street in New York City, prior to their expansion into Rochester.

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1854 Fire

Just a few months after the Wamsley’s move, January 21st, 1854, fire tore through the Blossom Hotel and the neighboring Osburn House building. The flames utterly destroyed the building, ending the Blossom Hotel’s life for good.

The Wamsleys, whose shop had been destroyed by the fire, built a new block in the burned Blossom Hotel lot.

The above article states that the plans for the Wamsley’s new marble buildings were drawn by architect Merwin Austin, who also designed such local landmarks as the Warner Castle. Austin was the uncle of Andrew Jackson Warner, designer of innumerable Rochester landmark buildings, and gave the nascent architect his first apprenticeship; Austin and Warner soon became full partners, operating for around three years as Austin & Warner between 1855 and 1858.

As of August 1854, work was “progressing finely”, with the first and second stories nearly completed.

By September of 1854, the building was “fast drawing towards completion”:

By many indications, the Wamsley Brothers’ new Marble Block was complete by the end of 1854 or beginning of 1855; the addresses Nos. 69 and 71, the addresses associated with the Marble Block, appear in the 1855 directory.

Joseph Wamsley died very young of dysentery, not long after the completion of the Marble Block, on July 30th, 1856.

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The Second Building

In 1856, the surviving Wamsley Brothers acquired property next door and began construction on a second building, in a matching style to the first Marble Block.

The Manufacturer’s Bank planned to move their operations to the second floor of the new Marble Block building upon its completion.

A German laborer was injured on Division Street while moving an iron truss for the new building.

In 1860, Thomas Wamsley opened his own dry goods shop in the Orphean Building of Frederick Starr; Edward Wamsley remained in the Marble Block.

After around ten years running their own individual businesses, Edward and Thomas reunited as the Wamsley Bros once again in 1871, this time located at No. 37 State Street, the Ellwanger & Barry Building.

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Eastman’s Model Mercantile College

In 1858, George Washington Eastman opened his Model Mercantile College in the top three floors of Wamsley’s new Marble Block. Most well-known to today’s Rochesterians as the father of camera pioneer George Eastman, G. W. Eastman had begun this business education program for young men in 1842.

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Sibley, Lindsay & Curr

In 1868, a dry goods store known as the Boston Dry Goods House was opened by Rufus Sibley, Alexander Lindsay, and John Curr in the Marble Block.

From these humble roots would grow Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co., better known as Sibley’s, a flagship retail empire of Rochester’s downtown that would last until the cusp of the 1990s.

Before long, Sibley, Lindsay & Curr would take over the old Osburn Block next door to the west and expand their operations into it.

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The Granite Building

In 1892, Sibley, Lindsay & Curr constructed the Granite Building in the place of the old Osburn House.

One of the Wamsley brothers, Edward Wamsley, passed away in August of 1893:

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1904 Fire

In 1904, probably the most destructive conflagration in Rochester’s history took place. A fuse overloaded in the Kirley Building, Nos. 156-166 East Main Street, which was at the time home of the Rochester Dry Goods Co. The sparks set fire to some poorly-placed drapery, igniting the flame that would course westwards along the retail row to the Granite Building, consuming everything in its wake.

Remarkably, the “fireproof” Granite Building lived up to its name, surviving the flames with no loss of structural integrity; the greater part of the damage to the building was from its ground-level connections to the neighboring Marble Block, from which fire surged like a blast furnace.

The damage to the other buildings was total, however; in its wake, the stone façades stood upright like tombstones, threatening to topple destructively at any moment. In order to eliminate this danger, contractors were hired to pull the remaining walls down in a controlled manner.

In the below photo, crews are pulling down the building directly to the east of the Marble Block:

And, in the photo below, crews are pulling down the easternmost of the two Marble Block buildings.

If one looks very carefully at the photo, one can see the cables being used to pull down the ruined façade of the burned-out Marble Block:

The extent of the devastation can be seen in the below photo from Fireproof Magazine;

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The Buell Building

Work was begun on replacement structures for the valuable commercial site within months. George C. Buell, a wholesale grocer whose store was destroyed in the great fire, quickly set about erecting a new building to be known creatively as the Buell Building.

As with most worksites, the Buell building construction site had its share of injuries and violence:

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E. W. Edwards & Son

The Syracuse-based dry goods company, E. W. Edwards & Son, leased the entirety of the yet-unfinished Buell Building for the location of their first Rochester store.

Thereafter, Edwards would expand to the buildings east of the Buell Building, and in 1941 the Buell Building itself would be leased to the H. L. Green Co., a discount department or “variety” store.

As you can see in the photo below, Edwards is at this point in the building to the east [right] of the Buell Building, and has added a couple of stories to the top of the original building.

The main difference between the Buell Building after its construction and the building during the tenure of H. L. Green Co. is that the tall, second-story windows have been covered up by a large identifying sign complete with a clock:

In 1981, Farash Corporation purchased the Buell Building, and reconstructed it as The Atrium Building, which it remains today.

Whether that’s better or worse than the Buell Building is up for debate, but in my opinion neither is as quaint and attractive as the old Marble Block. It’s impossible to say if those sweet little cut marble cupcakes would have survived the rigors of the 20th century to remain with us today, had they been spared from the flame. Hell, perhaps it’s better to look upon these beautiful old illustrations and photos instead of the haggard reality of a present-day historical building. Gonechester means never having to worry about building preservation!

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