Although the organization of a school of architecture at the university was discussed as early as 1961, the State University of New York Board of Trustees did not authorize the establishment of a School of Architecture at the University until 1967. John Eberhard, the first dean of the School, was appointed in 1968 and began to plan a curriculum and assemble a faculty with classes beginning in the spring of 1969.

The School's founding faculty--Eberhard, Mike Brill, Ibrahim Jammal, George Borowsky, Terry Collison, Dick Chalmers, Gunter Schmitz, Scott Danford, and Rainer Hassenstab--were selected "because they shared a vision of what 'environmental design' could be […], were willing to teach in non-traditional modes, and were comfortable in an academic situation where many disciplines were equally valued" (6).

Eberhard and his founding faculty engineered an innovative approach to the teaching and thinking about architecture and planning, formulating a School on the broadly based concept of environmental design. They developed a pedagogy rooted in the idea that the design of the environment is dependent on processes, both systematic and humane, which emphasize technical and social issues.

Michael Brill helped design and found the school. He also chaired the graduate program, and developed its research arm, a not-for-profit research and educational corporation called BOSTI (the Buffalo Organization for Social and Technological Innovation)--interdisciplinary research group staffed by faculty and graduate students. Ibrahim Jammal, a planner and educator, was asked to develop the undergraduate program at the same time.

When Dean Harold L. Cohen joined the School in 1974, he continued the innovations started by Eberhard, including the move of the School to Hayes Hall. Cohen founded the Friends of the School of Architecture and Planning, and together saw the establishment of the School’s Library, and recruited faculty and staff that almost doubled its size. Dean Cohen was a tireless champion for resources for the School and expanded the working relationship of the University and the community.

Following the retirement of Dean Cohen, Dr. Michael P. Brooks became dean (1984-87) followed by Interim Dean Judith E. Albino (1987-88). Bruno B. Freschi, O.C., joined the School in December, 1988, and continued to build on this solid foundation. During his tenure, Dean Freschi worked to establish the School’s annual Clarkson Visiting Chair (a lectureship endowed first endowed in 1989 by William M.E. Clarkson and his wife, Nan, and then further endowed in 2001 to provide for two lectureships annually) as well as Intersight, the School’s academic journal, before retiring in 1999.

In 1990, Prof. Robert Shibley founded the Urban Design Project (UDP), which seeks to serve the communities of the Niagara-Buffalo city-region by bringing faculty and urban design students together with local governments, community based organizations and citizens in general, to engage the work of making better places and stronger communities.

In 1990 the School celebrated its "coming of age" and in 1995, its 25th anniversary. Between 1999 and 2002, Acting Dean Thomas E. Headrick, and Interim Deans John B. Sheffer, II and Dr. Kenneth J. Levy provided the leadership of the School.

In 2001, the University's administration decided that the School would remain on the University's South Campus, in renovated space in the historic Hayes and Crosby halls, rather than move to the North Campus.