The Rochester Warner Family Legacy Day 2

The Granite Building. Designed in 1893 by A J Warner it was the city's first ever skeletal steel high rise.  It was originally built as a Department Store.  A.J. claimed it was totally fireproof.  It wasn't long till that was tested.

In 1904 a fire broke out in the basement of one of the adjoining buildings and so started one of the biggest fires in the history of the city.  Soon after the fire started the Rochester Fire Chief decided that this was going to be a fire too big for them alone to handle.  So a call went out to the Syracuse and Buffalo fire departments.  With in a half hour of getting the call the Syracuse fire dept was moving out the the train station to load up there engines.  They arrived 2 hours later in with in 5 minutes were off the train cars and racing to the scene.

They manned some of the most dangerous spots of the fire and stayed on duty till  the hot spots were out.  Most of the buildings around the Granite building were total losses and the Granite building took significant damage but in the end it was covered in ice but still standing.

This building had been built for the Sibleys Department stores as their flagship store.  Several years later the store moved to the building that bear its name now.  But,  this building is still standing strong and in good use as office space.