A fire in 2020 damaged this historic building at 160 North St.

The owners of a historic 150-year-old house on North Street, which hosted a massage studio until it was damaged in a March 2020 fire, are now seeking to repair and rehabilitate the structure so it can once again be utilized for therapy treatments.

P&K Real Property Holdings LLC, owned by Peter and Kathy Reden, wants to restore and make alterations to the former Ferris House at 160 North St., a 2.5-story Second Empire-style home in the Allentown Historic District that dates back to 1868. Located at the southwest corner of North and Irving Place, it has red-brick exterior walls, a raised stone foundation and a mansard roof, with a bracketed cornice, frieze, decorated columns, bay windows and grand stair hall.

The News' Buffalo Next team covers the changing Buffalo Niagara economy. Get the news in your inbox 5 days a week.

Most recently home to the Redens' Massage Therapeutic Arts, it suffered "extensive amounts of smoke damage with concentrated areas of fire and water damage" from the blaze two years ago, forcing the business to move to Elmwood Avenue, according to their application to the Buffalo Preservation Board, which approved the work. But the Redens, working with Carmina Wood Design, are now ready to bring it back to its 1900 appearance so their massage studio can return.

Except for many broken or destroyed windows, the exterior was "largely unaffected by the fire and remains in good condition," according to the application. Historic wood windows that are still in good shape – mostly on the first floor – will be kept, cleaned and refinished, while those on upper floors that were "damaged beyond repair" will be replaced with aluminum-clad wood windows based on historic appearance and designed to fit in the openings.

The south porch will continue to be used, but crews will add another entry door in back that mimics the house's front door, using an opening that previously held a window to provide a more formal rear entrance, including for handicapped access. No other exterior work is planned other than some repainting and refinishing of surfaces, according to plans by Carmina Wood Design.

The inside work will include smoke remediation and restoration of historic plaster and wood, but the layout will remain mostly the same, except for larger bathrooms, expanded employee areas and "enhanced" treatment rooms. The Redens plan to use state and federal historic tax credits to fund the $1.6 million project.

Meanwhile, on North Oak Street, Legacy Development continues to work on its effort to save and rehab its Main Gateway project, where it acquired several deteriorating buildings from an out-of-town landlord in a bid to bring them back to life. The Buffalo developer is currently focusing attention on 334 N. Oak, which contains three remaining buildings – a three-story townhouse, a two-story warehouse and a two-story smokestack building.

Legacy now wants to demolish the smokestack building, which is a two-story brick structure with a raised floor inside and only minimal drywall partitions. According to a letter to the Preservation Board from Chelsea Galley, Legacy's assistant vice president of planning and design, the smokestack has "a couple very large cracks in it and is beyond salvageable" and "the stack is at risk of falling on a neighboring building."

Legacy Development wants to take down the smokestack building at 334 N. Oak St. as part of its redevelopment of the site.

The building had previously been surrounded on all four sides and could not be seen or inspected from the street until Legacy tore down an appliance building on the site. It's also too close to the townhouse for Legacy to get equipment between the two structures to repair the townhouse's rear wall. "The demolition of this building is a critical part of the neighboring townhouse building," Galley wrote.

An aerial view of the buildings at 334 N. Oak St., which Legacy Development is rehabbing.

The Preservation Board approved the demolition Sept. 8.

Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy.

I've been a business reporter at The Buffalo News since 2004, now covering residential and commercial real estate and development amid WNY's resurgence. I'm an upstate native, proud to call Buffalo my home, and committed to covering it thoroughly.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Legacy received approval from the Buffalo Preservation Board to tear down the one-story Appliance Building at 334 N. Oak, which is sandwiched between several other taller buildings on the west side of the street just north of Genesee Street.

The gateway to Buffalo off the Kensington Expressway could be getting a new look.

For Buffalo preservationists, both incidents are examples of why city policies need to go further to protect the kind of architecture that the city has become famous for.

Fire Commissioner William Renaldo said at a news conference at the scene that the century-old commercial building was under renovation when it collapsed.

Frank Chinnici’s Legacy Development has completed its $2.7 million purchase of six properties in downtown Buffalo from a downstate landlord, who had allowed one of his buildings to deteriorate to the point that it had to be torn down in an emergency demolition last fall. Legacy on Wednesday closed on the purchase of the “Adler Portfolio,” which it termed

A fire in 2020 damaged this historic building at 160 North St.

Legacy Development wants to take down the smokestack building at 334 N. Oak St. as part of its redevelopment of the site.

An aerial view of the buildings at 334 N. Oak St., which Legacy Development is rehabbing.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.