File:Verizon Bailey Avenue Wire Center - fmr New York Telephone Bailey Central Office - Buffalo, New York - 20211124.jpg

English: As seen in November 2021, the former New York Telephone exchange at 2045 Bailey Avenue (corner Doat Street) in Buffalo, New York is one of only a handful of such buildings in the area with a Modernist architectural style, exemplified here by smooth-textured brick curtain walls, a preponderance of straight lines and right angles, and an almost complete absence of exterior ornamentation. The building was constructed in stages that together recount the history of American telephone service in the middle trimester of the 20th century: the first portion, comprising the bottom two stories directly adjacent to Bailey Avenue (in front, according to the perspective of this image) dates to 1937 and was constructed as part of a $500,000 campaign of facilities expansion that coincided with the changeover from manual switchboard to dial service in the City of Buffalo. The so-called Bailey Central Office originally housed the equipment serving New York Telephone's HUmboldt and TAylor phone exchanges. Further expansion of the local network would have to wait until after World War II, but once the economy returned to its peacetime footing, nearly a decade of pent-up demand combined with postwar prosperity translated into an explosive spate of growth that saw the building expanded three times in quick succession: in 1947, an 11,000-square-foot addition to the east side of the building (seen here in the background at right) accommodated the creation of the new BAiley and FIllmore exchanges that year, then in 1955 the third story was added (and, most likely, the building's exterior took on its present appearance) with the creation of the KEystone exchange. The one-story north annex, seen at left behind the school bus, was the last element to be built, in the early 1960s. The building continues in use by Verizon, the modern-day corporate successor of New York Telephone.