Curtiss Hotel

The Curtiss Hotel opened in July 2017 inside the landmarked 1913 Harlow C. Curtiss Building in downtown Buffalo, joining Choice Hotels' independent-leaning Ascend Hotel Collection. The 68-room boutique property pairs its terra-cotta-clad office-tower shell with Chez Ami restaurant, the region's only revolving bar, and the rooftop VUE Lounge.

The place

210 Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo, inside the 1913 Harlow C. Curtiss Building: a terra-cotta-clad former office tower on the National Register of Historic Places since 2008, near the Buffalo-Niagara Convention Center and the Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus.

The concept

The hotel occupies the Harlow C. Curtiss Building, designed by Buffalo architect Paul F. Mann and completed in 1913 for attorney and real-estate investor Harlow Clarke Curtiss, whose early tenants included the Kittinger Furniture Company. Choice Hotels International brought the converted office tower into its independent-leaning Ascend Hotel Collection when it opened in July 2017, with 68 rooms across seven room styles, Stearns & Foster bedding, high thread-count Italian percale linens and Crestron touchscreen room controls.

Dining & wellness

Chez Ami is the hotel's ground-floor restaurant and bar, serving casual-upscale Modern American and Italian food and running what the hotel describes as the region's only revolving bar, with year-round patio seating on West Huron Street. VUE Rooftop Lounge, open to the public, tops the building with indoor and outdoor seating and views over downtown Buffalo, Lake Erie and the Canadian shoreline. Urban Hotsprings, a marble-clad mineral hot tub heated to 102°F, and Harlow Spa (massage and HydraFacial treatments) round out the wellness offer.