Ellicott Square Building, Buffalo, N.Y.

This building was the largest building in the world when built 1895. This photo is by the Detroit Photograhic Company in 1900 shot on 8x10 glass plate negative.

In 1895, the Ellicott Company commissioned architect Daniel H. Burnham of Chicago to design what they referred to as an "office block" in downtown Buffalo. The result was a building occupying the entire space between Main, South Division, Washington, and Swan Streets. Its 10 stories, 60 offices, and 40 stores, along with its central court. cost 3.5 million dollars to build It was on May 30, 1896, only one year following its inception, that the Ellicott Square Building -- the largest, finest, and most complete office building in America -- took its place as a finished structure in the front rank of the notable features of the city of Buffalo.{via Buffalo as an Architectural Museum}