LaLuce D. Mitchell has completed his Architect Registration Exam and has earned his New York State architecture license. Mitchell has been with Flynn Battaglia since he started as an intern in May 2010. He became a full-time employee in October 2011. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology and his Masters of Science in Historic Preservation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
LaLuce Mitchell is a vital member of Flynn Battaglia Architects, completing historic tax credit applications, nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, and historic structure reports. He also collaborates on coordination and development of historic preservation projects and provides technical assistance for both renovation and new construction projects. He is a man of many hats and participates in our marketing and firm development committee as well. Some of his favorite recent project projects include: the Williamsville Mill, Buffum House preservation plan, Town of Clarence Agricultural Survey, and Richardson Olmsted Complex Core Project.
“I like the challenges posed by the ROC tax credit process. The intricacies of developing a rationale for the Complex’s preservation approach, ultimately resulting in a key component of the funding strategy, were exceptionally complex but extremely rewarding.” – LaLuce Mitchell
Favorite architect: Bruce Goff. “My family lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so I was around his very unique work often growing up. I never realized it until I began architecture school. His work embodies many of what I view as essential elements of architecture: use of local and salvaged materials, the importance of constant re-invention, and designing to the client’s unique character, wants and needs. This design ultimately reflects the client, not the architect.”
Reason for studying historic preservation: The key moment for me was witnessing firsthand the restoration of Mies van der Rohe’s Crown Hall of IIT while in undergraduate studies. As architecture students we spend an incredible amount of time on campus and in our academic buildings. I became interested in the restoration process while essentially living in a construction site as it underwent major improvements. I also worked for the van de Rohe Society while an undergraduate student and gave detailed tours of the campus to architecture buffs.
Favorite little-known building in Western New York: LaLuce is always one to find diamonds in the rough and shares with the office. His selection at this moment in time is the former Buffalo Industrial Bank: “It is located on Fillmore south of Broadway. It is in an art moderne style designed by Bley & Lyman in 1941. It is significant because it was the first drive-through bank in Buffalo and second in the eastern United States. Art moderne is one of my favorite styles because it is rare and strongly representative of its specific place in history. Other little-known examples of this style in Buffalo are houses on Park Street just north of Virginia in Allentown and in Schiller Park at the corner of Wisconsin Place and Doat Street.”
Why I Love Buffalo: “Coming from Chicago, I was impressed by how intact Buffalo’s historic fabric is. Not only do people care about and restore older houses in intact 19th-century neighborhoods, but they also eat, drink, and play in these neighborhoods. Unlike some cities, where the urban areas have forgotten their history, Buffalo has kept and is embracing its history, using it as a base for its current renaissance and leveraging it to create its future.”
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