Queen City Downtown
Our beautiful downtown landmarks provide a stunning backdrop for Buffalo’s most important stories, including the Erie Canal, several Presidents, master architects like Sullivan, Burnham, Upjohn, and Green, and the “Best Designed City” designation by Frederick Law Olmsted. The Guaranty Building, St. Paul’s, and the Ellicott Square Building are as magnificent on the inside as on the outside. See these stories come alive.
Winter—We take the Inside Downtown route, with more interior spaces.

Tuesdays all year (starting in May) at 2pm
July and August: Every weekday at 10am
Meet at the Visitor Center, 617 Main Street; $10 (Map)

Queen City Saturdays
June-October at 2pm
On Saturdays, meet at the Erie Canal Harbor next to the Naval & Military Park Store; $10 (Map)

Special Holiday Tours: Nov 27, Dec 28, 29, 30, 31 at 10am
Meet at the Visitor Center, 617 Main St; $10 (Map)

City Hall
Learn all about this Art Deco masterpiece—inside & out. Get the best view in Buffalo from the Observation Deck.

Weekdays year ‘round (except holidays)
12:00 Noon – 1:00 pm
Meet in the City Hall lobby; FREE (Map)

Inside the Central Terminal
Featured on the TV show Ghost Hunters, the Art Deco Central Terminal evokes poignant memories of departure and reunion … and dismay over its deterioration under various owners. Since 1997, the nonprofit Central Terminal Restoration Corporation has arrested deterioration, restored the tower clock, conducted regular clean-ups and sponsored well-attended events in this magnificent structure. See the results and hear about future plans.

Sundays May 31, July 26, Aug 9, Sept 20 at 11am
Meet at 495 Paderewski Drive (take Broadway to Memorial Drive); $10 (Map)
Co-sponsored by the Central Terminal Restoration Corporation

Legendary Lincoln Parkway
One of the most beautiful avenues in Olmsted’s park system, Lincoln Parkway was a magnet for lavish homes built by many prominent Buffalonians. John Larkin, founder of the Larkin Soap Company, even bought an entire square block as an estate called “Larkland” for himself and his children. Join us as we explore this storied neighborhood.

Sundays June 21, July 19, Aug 16 at 5pm
Meet at the Lincoln Statue by the Rose Garden in Delaware Park, $10 (Map)

Special Holiday Tours: Nov 28 and 29, Dec 26 and 27 at 10am

Inside the Homes of Prospect Hill
Enjoy interior home visits and hidden gardens, look out from the Masons widow’s walk, and glimpse the unsurpassed view at Front Park in Buffalo’s only historic lakefront community. See architecture from 1860 to 1955 and learn the rags to riches stories behind the Italian Americans who created the community known as "Doctor's Row." Enjoy refreshments (Italian of course) at one of our homes.

Reservations required:

Call (716) 852-3300 or E-mail info@BuffaloTours.org
Saturday May 30 (SOLD OUT) & Sunday Oct 4, 10am-1pm
Meet at Columbus Parkway & Columbus Park West (Map)

$20 or $15 for members
Co-sponsored by the Niagara Gateway Columbus Park Association

River Boat Tours
Don’t miss a leisurely view of Buffalo’s unique skyline.  Learn about our city's great past as a center of lake commerce, and modern efforts to clean our rivers that are the first of their kind in the USA.

Reservations recommended.

Call (716) 852-3300 or E-mail info@BuffaloTours.org

Niagara River Tour: Sunday July 5, 10am-Noon

Buffalo River Tour: Sunday Aug 16, 10am-Noon
Meet at Miss Buffalo Cruise Boats, 79 Marine Drive (Map)

$20 or $15 for members, $10 for students
Co-sponsored by Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper

Grand Mansions, Inside & Out
Join us for this rare glimpse inside the magnificent homes of Buffalo's Golden Age on Delaware Avenue & Oakland Place. See how the rich and famous of the early 20th Century lived during Buffalo’s heyday.

Reservations required.

Call (716) 852-3300 or E-mail info@BuffaloTours.org
Saturday Sept 19, 10am-1pm
Meet at Delaware Ave & Summer St (Map)

$25 or $20 for members

Splendors in Stained Glass
Our holiday bus tour of churches takes you to St. Francis Xavier Church, Trinity Episcopal, Saint Ann's Church and Shrine, and Corpus Christi. See windows by Tiffany, LaFarge, Zettler and Meyer - one of the best collections of stained glass artists in the world. The five hour tour includes transportation, entry into each church, admission to the Buffalo Religious Arts Center, lunch at Chef's, and a special organ recital at Xavier Hall.

Reservations required.

Call (716) 852-3300 or E-mail info@BuffaloTours.org
Saturday Dec 5, 10am-3pm
Meet the bus at St. Andrew's Church at Elmwood Ave and Sheridan Drive (Map)

$50
Co-sponsored by the Buffalo Religious Arts Center

Ashland & Norwood

Along new streetcar lines, the city’s late 19th century middle class searched for a place to live away from the bustle of the workplace and the older, densely packed neighborhoods. Many came to the near West Side. Our tour looks at a neighborhood built entirely between 1880 and 1900, one with many architectural styles and colorful restorations.

June 28 and Aug 23
Meet in front of the Unitarian Universalist Church, Elmwood Ave & West Ferry Ave (Map)

West Village

Explore the neighborhood pioneered by Buffalo’s first mayor, Ebenezer Johnson, in 1824. Excellent examples of Italianate, French Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, and Richardsonian buildings survive. Visit the finest red brick architecture in Buffalo, one of the city’s first public parks, early mansions and apartment houses.

July 5 and Sept 27
Meet at Johnson Park & S. Elmwood Ave (Map)
Happy Hour Encore! Friday, Aug 21 at 6pm

Porter Avenue

Part of the original Olmsted-Vaux Park and Parkway system, this avenue boasts landmarks like Kleinhans Music Hall, First Presbyterian Church, State Normal School, and  the Plymouth Methodist Church, as well as fine examples of various styles of architecture, including Stick and the Queen Anne built by Seymour H. Knox.

July 12 and Sept 6
Meet at Porter Ave & Niagara St (Map)

Bidwell Parkway: Circle to Circle

Named for Civil War Brigadier General Daniel Bidwell, this Olmsted – designed parkway serves as a gathering spot for the entire city of Buffalo.  The parkway hosts a weekly market, open air concerts, occasional protests and countless touch football games.  On this tour, we will explore the history of the parkway, discuss significant, architect-designed homes and understand why the best planned parkway in America’s ‘best planned city ‘has become the heart of the Elmwood Village. 

July 19 and Sept 13
Meet at St. John’s-Grace Church, 51 Colonial Circle (Map)

Historic Niagara Falls

The Park Place Historic District constitutes parts of 4th Street, Pine Avenue, Cedar Avenue and Park Place.  There are four distinct layers of development represented: 1850’s workers’ cottages on Cedar Avenue, late 19th century middle income residences, turn-of-the-century upper income residences on Park Place, and 1920’s homes built for middle level management and professionals.
The tour begins at the National Register First Unitarian Universalist Church of Niagara (with a tour of the sanctuary) and concludes at the National Register James G. Marshall House (Park Place B&B) with a tour of its authentic Arts & Crafts interior.

July 26 and Sept 20
Meet at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 639 Main St, Niagara Falls, NY (Map)

Village of Williamsville
Williamsville owes its existence to the falls of Ellicott Creek, where founder Jonas Williams, among others, constructed water-powered grist mills. One of the mills, built in 1811, is still operational. Learn about the many village stone houses, schools, and churches dating from the 1830s, and a restaurant that began as a stagecoach stop and inn on the Buffalo–Batavia road.

Aug 2 and Aug 30
Meet in front of Williamsville Village Hall, 5565 Main St (Map)

Black Rock
In 1817, the Village of Black Rock lost the competition to become the western terminus of the Erie Canal to the then-smaller Village of Buffalo. The neighborhood of Black Rock holds an astoundingly rich art and architectural history, from the magnificent former Saint Francis Xavier Church, to the new home of the growing Buffalo Religious Arts Center, to the historic storefronts on Niagara Street. Explore this neighborhood in part outdoor walking tour, part tour of the new Religious Arts Center, that celebrates the religious art of Buffalo's immigrants and faithful.

June 6, July 4, Aug 1, Sept 5, Oct 3
Meet at Amherst St & Niagara St (Map)
Co-sponsored by the Buffalo Religious Arts Center

Parkside Neighborhood
Take a walk in this Frederick Law Olmsted-designed neighborhood and you will be impressed. Highlighted by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House, an art deco Pierce Arrow showroom, and Tiffany windows inside the Church of the Good Shepherd, Parkside is world-renowned for its picturesque, century-old homes.

May 9, June 13, July 11, Aug 8, Sept 12, Oct 10
Meet at Church of the Good Shepherd, 96 Jewett Parkway (Map)
Co-sponsored by the Parkside Community Association

Southern Exposure

Too often South Buffalo is shrouded by its industrial past and uncertain future. The reality is that few other neighborhoods can lay claim to such assets and rich history. From Red Jacket and the Indian burial ground to Olmstead's landscaping, a mason lodge and unique architecture--it's a diverse neighborhood that has remained true to its Gaelic roots. The tour will also offer interior views of neighborhood churches and an optional lunch and trivia quiz at an authentic Irish pub, "The Blackthorn."

June 27, Aug 22, Sept 26, Oct 24
Meet at Buffum St & Fields Ave (take Seneca St to Buffum) (Map)

Who Was Who on the Avenue?
Enjoy an interior tour of Gilda’s Club and learn about the infamous William Fingy Conners, who once lived there. Step back in time with us as we talk about wealthy Delaware Avenue families and local events that impacted U. S. history. At Gates Circle, we’ll encounter the future in the fate of Millard Fillmore Hospital and the proposed condominium project slated for the site of the former Park Lane Restaurant.

June 20, July 18, Aug 15
Meet at Gilda’s Club, Delaware Ave & W. Ferry St (Map)

Waterfront Revival: From Lighthouse to Commercial Slip
Can the thriving waterfront of the early 20th century come to life once more? Walk from the mouth of the Buffalo River toward the newly-reconstructed and re-watered Commercial Slip. Learn about the once barren and flooded “flats” that became a thriving neighborhood of homes and shops during the heyday of the Erie Canal. What’s next?

June 7, Sept 13, Oct 11
Meet at the shelter area of the Hatch restaurant, 329 Erie St (Map)

Richardson-Olmsted Complex
On this tour, we’ll walk the perimeter of one of H. H. Richardson’s greatest designs, the Buffalo State Hospital (interior tours have been unavailable since 2003). Surrounded by an Olmsted landscape, this largest of Richardson’s creations influenced a much-emulated architectural style named for the architect, Richardsonian Romanesque.

June 14, July 19, Aug 23, Oct 25
Meet at the gate at Forest Ave & Richmond Ave (Map)

Gold Medal Grain Elevators
Join us for an update on the Cobblestone District and Commercial Slip developments. Walk over the Michigan Avenue lift bridge for a close-up view of General Mills and other majestic grain elevators. While on tour, munch on General Mills product samples.

June 21, Aug 2, Aug 30, Sept 27
Meet at the Erie Canal Harbor, next to the Naval Park gift shop (Map)

Millionaire's Row
In Buffalo’s glory days, Delaware Avenue’s mansions stretched from Niagara Square to Gates Circle and constituted a tightly knit neighborhood where everyone knew each other and many were related. A number of the surviving mansions have been adapted for corporate, educational, and nonprofit uses. Millionaire’s Row today is a National Historic District. As we stroll the Avenue, we’ll discuss these architectural treasures and the business barons who built them.

June 28, Sept 6
Meet at Delaware Ave & North St (Map)

Heart of Polonia
Dominated by its massive Catholic churches, interspersed with business and residential designs of the highest order, the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood was the heart of Western New York’s Polish-American community for generations. It was one of the largest Polish neighborhoods in the country. Learn more about this neighborhood’s past and how that heritage continues to shape the present.

July 12, Oct 18
Meet in front of St. Stanislaus Church, 123 Townsend St (Map)

Crime & Scandal
Revisit old Buffalo scandals, such as Grover Cleveland's fathering a son out of wedlock and William McKinley's assassination, as well as new ones, including which Buffalo nightclub kick-started the Goth scene in the 1980s!

June 19
Meet at Spot Coffee on Delaware Ave & Chippewa St (Map)
Special Halloween encore! Saturday Oct 31 at 10am

Theatre District
From the recently renovated Electric Building, this tour proceeds up Main Street past new construction to an extraordinary collection of buildings that reflect the typical American “Main Street” of the 1930s. We’ll check on the results of various restoration efforts, including that of the Market Arcade itself, a beautifully detailed 1892 retail mall.

July 17
Meet in the Market Arcade, 617 Main St (Map)

West Village

Explore the neighborhood pioneered by Buffalo’s first mayor, Ebenezer Johnson, in 1824. Excellent examples of Italianate, French Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, and Richardsonian buildings survive. Visit the finest red brick architecture in Buffalo, one of the city’s first public parks, early mansions and apartment houses.

Aug 21
Meet at Johnson Park & S. Elmwood Ave (Map)
Special encores Sundays July 5 & Sept 27 at 2pm

New Digs Downtown
Delaware Avenue’s downtown landscape is being dramatically altered by a building boom that includes new office towers, condos, and adaptive reuse. Get a firsthand view of all the “new digs,” while learning about the Avenue’s rich historical past. This tour brings the old and the new together and offers a sneak peak into Buffalo’s future.

Sept 18
Meet at Delaware Ave & W. Mohawk St (Map)