News   Mar 28, 2024
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Buffalo: America's Best Designed City

Nice to see some changes coming to Buffalo. Still some great architecture there. Their mistakes remind me of Toronto's mistakes. The stupid highway along the water killing much of the waterfront. Not to mention the ugly one that went right through a neighbourhood that essentially killed it. Now they're trying to undo the mess. Sort of like what we're doing..but I still think we're in the middle of making bad decisions that we will shake our heads at in the future.
 
Nice to see some changes coming to Buffalo. Still some great architecture there. Their mistakes remind me of Toronto's mistakes. The stupid highway along the water killing much of the waterfront. Not to mention the ugly one that went right through a neighbourhood that essentially killed it. Now they're trying to undo the mess. Sort of like what we're doing..but I still think we're in the middle of making bad decisions that we will shake our heads at in the future.
They've done a much better job preserving their old stock of buildings than we have; and they are maintained to a vastly greater standard as well.

I was just browsing through Google street view and was surprised at how beautiful the city is. I've been to Niagara Falls, NY to go shopping with my family probably 20 times in my life, but I think we only drove through downtown Buffalo once, about 25 years ago, so I've always had this ratty image of the city based on its suburbs. Anyway, I came across this really neat house just now: https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.9008...Q43NFDGM_ypus3QigA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
 
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They've done a much better job preserving their old stock of buildings than we have; and they are maintained to a vastly greater standard as well.

That's because there were a lot of people leaving Buffalo, usually leaving the old buildings untouched. In Toronto, there are a lot of people coming into Toronto, especially downtown, which results in the replacing of old buildings.
 
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They've done a much better job preserving their old stock of buildings than we have; and they are maintained to a vastly greater standard as well.

I was just browsing through Google street view and was surprised at how beautiful the city is. I've been to Niagara Falls, NY to go shopping with my family probably 20 times in my life, but I think we only drove through downtown Buffalo once, about 25 years ago, so I've always had this ratty image of the city based on its suburbs. Anyway, I came across this really neat house just now: https://www.google.ca/maps/@42.9008...Q43NFDGM_ypus3QigA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

There's still a lot of rattiness in the downtown area but it is getting better. There are some beautiful houses there for a steal. I wonder if people will start to move out of Toronto as we're nearing the peak of unaffordability.
 
That's because there were a lot of people leaving Buffalo, usually leaving the old buildings untouched. In Toronto, there are a lot of people coming into Toronto, especially downtown, which results in the replacing of old buildings.
That doesn't explain the mass demolition that took place in the 60s, when most people were fleeing to the suburbs. Many buildings became abandoned and were replaced with parking lots. But I guess you could say that said parking lots were to accommodate the large suburban population that would enter the city.
 
Buffalo has a lot of beauty in its grand old architecture, streetscapes and parks. It has homes by Frank Lloyd Wright and parks by Frederick Law Olmsted. Its history as a thriving port city where grain was transferred from ships to trains and versa is fascinating. Today, however, many parts of the city are gritty and rundown. It's one of the most dangerous cities in New York State, with more crime per capita than NYC.
 

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