A newly incorporated 501(c)(3) organization, the Coles House Project is currently raising funds to purchase and restore the house in order to transform it into a community gathering space. 

Interior view of a mid century modern house entryway with wool paneled accents on cream colored walls

Unlike other homes along Humboldt Parkway, the Coles House is noticeably set back from the sidewalk. 

A low white building with a powder blue section of wall behind shrubbery and set in front of an area with dense green vegetation

The property’s small foyer (the “hyphen”) connects the studio in the front with the home in the back.

Exterior of a midcentury modern building with vertical wood siding and powder blue window trim

Across his career, Coles operated his architectural firm periodically out of the studio (shown here) connected to the house.  

A sparsely decorated interior space with a wooden ceiling, white walls and a concrete floor, and a white dresser and light brown desk facing the viewer

Together, Albert Chao (left) and Scott Ruff (right) lead the Coles House Project, a nonprofit dedicated to uplifting and nurturing Coles’s legacy of advocacy and architecture through public programming, community-driven design, architecture, and planning. 

Two men seated facing each other and having a discussion inside of a midcentury modern room with a free standing fireplace. 

Following Coles’s commitment to advocacy, people involved in the Coles House Project, including those who have been mentored by or worked for Coles, want to ensure the house is broadly accessible to people in the community. 

Two African American women in an office space turn in their desk chairs to speak to one another

“This right here is a snapshot of what’s possible: not just to bring people in to learn, but to come together and mobilize,” Albert Chao said to a group of students, architects, and community members.  

Albert Chao facing the viewer in front of a four drawer white dresser in a dark shirt and pants

Architecture students will have ongoing opportunities to study the Coles House, along with other Coles-designed buildings in the Buffalo area, in a way that could support future advocacy efforts. 

A carved wood architectural model of the Coles house 

Snapshots of a Prolific Career

Frank E. Merriweather, Jr. Branch Library, completed in 2006.  

Exterior of a rounded colored brick building with stripes of gray, white and pink

Apollo Media Center, formerly the Apollo Theater, (renovation) completed in 2000.  

Exterior of a modern building built of white square bricks with a theater marquee

William-Elmslie YMCA, completed in 1982. 

The exterior of the William-Elmslie YMCA, a red brick rounded building

Jesse E. Nash Health Center, completed in 1975.  

The exterior of the Jesse E. Nash Health Center, a rectangular modern building with multicolored painted silhouettes on the exterior walls 

Robert Traynham Coles Utica Station, completed in 1984. 

The exterior of the Robert Traynham Coles Utica Station, low rectangular modern building made of gray concrete

After weathering periods of uncertainty in Buffalo’s Hamlin Park neighborhood, the Robert T. Coles House will be preserved to support community-centered research and programming.

Coles House Project

The home and studio of Robert T. Coles was designed and built in 1961 to be oriented away from Humboldt Parkway—the parkway-turned-highway along which it sits. 

A front view of a yellow and gray two storied modern rectangular house 

Mid-Century Marvel

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

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