It was a family affair when this photograph was taken on a wintry day in 1892. The saloon of Sigismund Feyl stood at 112 Pearl Street, southwest corner of Swan Street. Feyl’s Saloon opened in 1889, and when this photograph was snapped was one of 1,660 saloons in Buffalo.

Change was on the horizon in 1892, with Buffalo’s population booming, the steel skeleton and passenger elevator creating new architectural possibilities, and an electric streetcar system facilitating land use intensification in the central city. Starting in the mid-1890s, the first steel-framed skyscrapers started to overtake the small-scale homes, stores, and churches in what would soon become “downtown.” This handsome Second Empire-style building at 112 Pearl Street was among the first to be replaced.

Feyl’s Saloon, as well as Susan Barnes’s restaurant next door at 110 Pearl Street, was demolished by 1894 to make way for the 10-story Dun Building, the city’s first high-rise. The Dun Building, designed by Green & Wicks and completed in 1895, still stands today.

Image courtesy of The Buffalo History Museum. Used by permission.