Where Allentown is
Allentown lies just north of downtown Buffalo. The neighborhood runs from the edge of downtown to North Street, and from Main Street west to Normal Avenue, with Allen Street and Elmwood Avenue at its center. 430 Virginia Street is inside it.
A neighborhood with a long memory
The neighborhood takes its name from Lewis F. Allen, who came to Buffalo in 1827 and owned much of the land here. Allen Street is said to follow the path his cattle once took. Allentown grew as a streetcar suburb in the second half of the nineteenth century, and its streets still show it.
In 1980 the Allentown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was expanded in 2012. It takes in more than seven hundred buildings, most of them homes, in a range of nineteenth-century styles: Italianate, Second Empire, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival and Stick-Eastlake among them.
Landmarks close to home
Historic Mansion Row, the stretch of grand houses on Delaware Avenue, is one block from the building. The Mansion on Delaware, at 414 Delaware Avenue, is one of its best-known houses. Further along Delaware is the Wilcox Mansion, where Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office in 1901, now the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.
Delaware Avenue's famous run of mansions, once known as Millionaires' Row, continues north from there: the Clement House at 786 Delaware and the Goodyear Mansion at 888 Delaware among them. A short walk south, at 388 Delaware, is The Buffalo Club, founded in 1867 with Millard Fillmore as its first president.
On the neighborhood's western side, Kleinhans Music Hall, home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, faces Symphony Circle, one of the green spaces shaped by Frederick Law Olmsted's plan for Buffalo's parks.
Every June: the Allentown Art Festival
Since 1958 the Allentown Art Festival has filled these streets each June. Run by the volunteer Allentown Village Society, it brings more than three hundred artists and craftspeople to booths along Allen Street, Delaware Avenue, Franklin Street and Virginia Street itself.
Everyday Allentown
Allentown is known for its galleries, restaurants, bars and antique shops, and for a creative, open-minded community. Elmwood Village, with its dining, shopping and nightlife, is directly adjacent.
The Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus is within walking distance of the building, and the Allen/Medical Campus Metro Rail station on Main Street connects to downtown and the university. Downtown Buffalo, Delaware Park and Canalside are each under ten minutes away. Living near the Medical Campus.