Duane Lyman


Duane Lyman was an architect based in Buffalo, New York, known for his prolific career which included 100 school buildings, many churches, and numerous large homes both in the city and suburban communities. At the time of his death, Lyman was referred to as the "dean of Western New York Architecture."

Early life

Lyman was born in Lockport, New York, the son of Richard B. and Molly Hayes Lyman. He attended Lafayette High School in Buffalo and in 1908, graduated from Yale University's Sheffield Scientific School, where he studied architecture and mechanical engineering.

Career

After graduating in 1908, he traveled abroad to Europe, staying until 1913 and the eve of World War I. He returned to the United States, settling in Buffalo and started an architecture practice. He was chief in three firms: Lansing Bley & Lyman, Bley & Lyman, and Lyman & Associates. Lyman volunteered for military service during World War I, serving in the nation's capital, and left with the rank of major.
Some of Lyman's papers survive in the collection of the Buffalo History Museum.

Selected works

In 1911, he married Elizabeth Stimson, with whom he had three daughters. Lyman hunted and fished on his near 100 acre farm near South Wales, in Western New York and Canada, fished in Florida and New Brunswick, Canada, and at his hunting and fishing lodge near Bic in Quebec, where he was a member of the Anglo-American Fish & Game Club of Bic. He was also a member of the Saturn Club in Buffalo and a life member and director of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy. Lyman died on April 30, 1966, at his home on 78 Oakland Place in Buffalo, which he designed and built in 1948. He was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo.