The Hotel With Heritage

Set amid the greenery and evocative architecture of one of Buffalo's finest residential districts, the Hotel Lenox blends the elegance of its Gilded Age origins with a dash of modern residence-like amenities. The oldest continually-operated hotel in Buffalo and the only one that can trace it's heritage to the city's 19th Century rise to greatness, the Lenox is a home with a heritage.

Guests of the Lenox, some of them for months at a time, have included many historical figures. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Aaron Copeland, Henry Fonda, Duke Ellington, Andres Sergovia, Maria Talchief, Harry Belafonte, Lucas Foss and Jeanette MacDonald are among the list.

Designed by Loverin & Whelan and opened in 1896 as an eighty-story apartment building on one of Buffalo's highest points of land, the Lenox was considered a spectacular addition to a booming city that, just that year, had become the first metropolis in the world to be lit extensively with electricity.

The hotel's H-Shaped floor plan and it's 1890s design also offer guests a change from the warehouse-like corridors of modern hotels, with turning hallways imparting a residential feel and privacy to the guest wings. Steel-frame construction and thick masonry and plaster walls, part of the Lenox legacy as Buffalo's first fireproof building, also add both safety and a degree of soundproofing unparalleled in modern construction. The hotel is favored by visiting master musicians performing or auditioning at the world-famous Saarinen-designed Kleinhans Music Hall, home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, just two blocks away.

Notable among its features around the turn of the century were its eight-floor dining room, which would survive well into the hotel's "modern" era as the Skyview Room, and a railed-in rooftop veranda with a view of much of Buffalo to Lake Erie and the Niagara River. Spectacular views still are a hallmark of the hotel's upper-floor guest rooms, which look out over tree-lined residential streets and courtyards or urban cityscapes. Some rooms also feature arched and leaded-glass windows, adding a touch of Buffalo's framed Victorian ambiance to the scenery.

The Lenox offers nights of comfort with a glimpse of history. Within a few blocks of Buffalo's Theater District and a few minutes from the museum district and much of the city's stunning world-class architecture, this hotel with a storied past also offers exceptional value to guests seeking mid-range or extended stays. With more than a century of dreams in it's past, the Lenox Hotel & Suites has a place in your future.