Episode Overview

Title: Tall Stories 495: Practising preservation at Buffalo’s Assembly House
Podcast: The Urbanist (by Monocle)
Host: Andrew Tuck
Guest: Dennis Marr (Founder and Director, Assembly House)
Date: February 9, 2026

Theme:
This episode explores the innovative approach to preservation practiced at Assembly House, a repurposed 19th-century church in Buffalo. Dennis Marr, its founder, shares how the space is being used to not just preserve a building, but to revive traditional building skills, foster hands-on learning, and reimagine how cities and their histories can stay alive and relevant.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Assembly House: A Living Laboratory for Preservation

• Transformation of a Historic Church
  • Assembly House was originally a ceremonial church from the 1860s, adorned with Neo Gothic details added in the 1890s.
  • The church was abandoned in the early 2000s, and now its interior is filled with installations resembling parts of buildings and dreamlike spaces (00:53).
• A Dialogue between Past and Present
  • The original architectural features—stained glass, wood trusses, ornate woodwork—interact with new structures built within (01:40).
  • These elements create a layered, evolving environment, not just a static showcase of history.

Preserving Skills and Traditions, Not Just Structures

• Hands-on Learning and Training
  • Every element inside the Assembly House is designed and built by people developing construction skills—ranging from training programs to university students (02:22).
  • Marr describes it as a “mini city” where “people can learn skills of building, draw inspiration from the space, and then go out into the world and make things happen there” (02:36).
• Continuous Creation and Re-creation
  • Unlike typical construction projects focused on rapid, cost-effective results, Assembly House emphasizes extended periods of building, rebuilding, and evolving installations (03:04).
  • Some installations are long-lasting; others are temporary, mimicking the organic, ever-changing nature of cities.

Rethinking Preservation

• Beyond Freezing History
  • Marr challenges the notion that preservation is freezing a building in time:

    “Preservation is often about making something still or fixing a moment in time. So if we’re embracing the movements of materials, the contributions of people, the preservation of skills, what does that mean for the discipline of preservation?” (03:58)

  • True preservation should also focus on “the skill sets and the experimental attitude that gave birth to such a site” (04:28).
• Skepticism and Reward
  • There was skepticism about how aggressively original building parts were being altered, but over time “levels of appreciation” grew as the mission of skill and moment preservation became clearer (04:49).

The Importance of Embodied Knowledge in a Digital Age

• Tactile Experience vs. Disconnection
  • Marr warns of society’s increasing detachment from “physical things,” heightened by the rise of AI (05:13).
  • Assembly House aims to reconnect people through hands-on skills:

    “…recover forms of connection… by transmitting the hands-on skills to people who are learning how to build things, who are coming into contact with things…” (05:26)

  • Rediscovering “forms of bodily engagement and knowledge” is presented as essential to both personal and societal well-being.

Assembly House as a Community and Cultural Hub

• Multifaceted Participation
  • The space welcomes a diverse group: construction trainees, university students, tourists, curiosity seekers, and cultural enthusiasts (05:42).
  • It seeks to make art, design, construction, and preservation accessible and enjoyable for all—contributing to public joy and appreciation for the built environment.
  • Marr hopes the space “transmits a joy, an enthusiasm and a delight for the built environment” (06:10).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Mission of Assembly House:

  “I think of the assembly house as a dream world for the building arts. I’m designing it in order to put people in touch with things that we're losing touch with, with materials, with tools, with history, with one another.” —Dennis Marr (01:59)

• On the Unique Model of Preservation:

  “Preservation is often about making something still or fixing a moment in time. So if we're embracing the movements of materials, the contributions of people, the preservation of skills, what does that mean for the discipline of preservation?” —Dennis Marr (03:58)

• On Societal Relevance:

  "We are living in a world which is increasingly detached from physical things. And it’s going to be increasingly important to put people back in touch with things, with that embodied knowledge and learning that comes from physical experience, that comes from the direct connection to the hands.” —Dennis Marr (05:13)

• On Community Engagement:

  “…transmits a joy, an enthusiasm and a delight for the built environment.” —Dennis Marr (06:10)

Timestamps of Key Segments

• 00:09 — Introduction to Assembly House and its mission (Andrew Tuck)
• 00:53 — Dennis Marr describes the physical transformation and atmosphere
• 01:59 — The philosophy of connecting people with building arts
• 02:22 - 02:36 — Hands-on learning through construction trades programs
• 03:04 — Extended, evolving construction vs. traditional projects
• 03:58 — Reflections on what preservation truly means
• 05:13 — The challenge of physical disconnection in modern society
• 05:42 — Assembly House bringing together learners, tourists, and cultural enthusiasts
• 06:10 — Final thoughts on accessibility and joy in architecture
• 06:29 — Outro, thanks, and production credits

Summary

This episode of The Urbanist’s Tall Stories highlights Buffalo's Assembly House as a vibrant laboratory for redefining preservation. Founder Dennis Marr shares how the project brings together traditional craftsmanship, educational programs, and creative installations inside a historic church—inviting people from all walks of life to re-engage with the built environment. Through hands-on learning and a continuously evolving interior, Assembly House seeks not only to protect a building, but to safeguard the knowledge, skills, and communal connections that shape meaningful cities. The episode invites urbanists to think beyond static conservation, toward preservation as a living, evolving practice rooted in both history and present-day participation.