Bombed Out Buffalo, NY

[photoLith]

Went to Buffalo and Niagara Falls this weekend with a few stops in between. Started the trip out in downtown Buffalo Friday night, then went to bed. Woke up and went to the Buffalo Central Terminal, built in 1929, which is now long since abandoned, although a local preservation group bought the main section of the building and is actively restoring it, but has a long long long ways to go. The vast majority of this once hugely busy train station is still in ruins and will probably remain as such until it falls down or is torn down unfortunately.

Then we went to the largest grain silo in the US, the abandoned Concrete Central Grain Elevator which was built in 1915, and long abandoned, although semi protected under city ordinances and some things have been done to stabilize the complex. Then off to Niagara Falls.

Today was kind of a bust, crappy sunny too contrasty weather and not that good of sites, but got a few good shots in a WW2 era plane factory.

Been all over the country in the past few months and was just in NYC 2 weeks ago and then back to Pittsburgh, then to Buffalo.


So, I had recently gotten back from NYC just two weeks ago. Then back to Pittsburgh.


Pittsburghs Southside this past weekend, got pretty drunk at a hipster bar that night, fun times.


Then woke up the next day hungover and went to Carrie Furnace, one of the nations last and most historic steel mill blast furnaces, this one was built in the early 1900s and has long since been abandoned, but may one day be restored.


Then back to the street I moved to in Millvale Pittsburgh about a month ago.


Then a quick stop to Pittsburghs west end overlook and then on to Buffalo.

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Buffalo and Niagara


Buffalo City Hall, one of the most amazing art deco buildings in the country I think.










The following photos are from the Buffalo Central Station.



































Next photos are from the 1915 Concrete Central Grain Elevator in Buffalo













After a short nap, went on to Niagara Falls, a short 35 min drive from Buffalo, unfortunately my roommate doesnt have a passport so we had to stay on the not as photogenic American side.












Back to Buffalo


We planned on going to an amazing theatre today but someone had recently boarded it up and there was noway in. Buffalo is how I imagine Detroit looks, guess Ill find out soon since I plan on going to Detroit within the next month, but first is Baltimore before that.





Then we went to a destroyed WW2 plane factory in closer to downtown Buffalo








View of a neighborhood from the factory.


Last place we went was the Richardson designed Buffalo Psych Ward, built in 1870. Unfortunately but also fortunately for the sake of preservation, the huge medical complex which has been completely abandoned starting in the 70s and then completely abandoned in the early 1990s is being totally restored at a price of well over 100 million dollars, probably once finished in the range of 300 million or more to be turned into a museum, hotel, and residential/commercial.


Then in the next few weeks back to Washington, DC and hopefully a new thread on Baltimore, where Ive never been yet.

[Quixote]

Nice! I'll be in Niagra Falls (the Canadian side) next week. I haven't been there since the age of 5 or 6. That is after I visit Toronto for the first time and before I travel down to NYC before concluding in DC.

And it's always fascinated me how Pittsburgh didn't go down the same path as, say, Buffalo or Cleveland. Maybe it's a Great Lakes thing?

[Jeff]

Always fascinated by the buffalo train station since I rode by it a couple years back on Amtrak between Toronto and New York! Thanks for sharing

[tdawg]

geez louise these pictures are beautiful. may i ask what kind of camera you have?

[animatedmartian]

Pretty nice. Pretty Gritty. It does looks similar to Detroit but better preserved.

[photoLith]

Originally Posted by tdawg

geez louise these pictures are beautiful. may i ask what kind of camera you have?

I don't like those questions, but I use a d700, doesn't matter if you have a d3100 or a d4, the photographer is what matters, not the camera as much. Gear helps but good camera gear doesn't make someone a good photographer.

You never tell a great cook, jeez this food is amazing, what kind of stove and pots do you use. Just a pet peeve of mine, sorry.

[Kingofthehill]

Well done, photoLith. Buffalo and the like have always intrigued me because they go from grand, over-the-top Art-Deco and Beaux Arts structures downtown to plain and ordinary, working man's wood-frame cottages and shacks a few blocks away. Very little in the form of a solid in-between.

Ease up on the complaining, though, man. Every second one of your words is profanity or some rant against America or suburbia. You come across as very immature and childish doing so. Anyways, keep up the great work on the "Shitty cities of America" tour!

Originally Posted by photoLith

I don't like those questions, but I use a d700, doesn't matter if you have a d3100 or a d4, the photographer is what matters, not the camera as much. Gear helps but good camera gear doesn't make someone a good photographer.

You never tell a great cook, jeez this food is amazing, what kind of stove and pots do you use. Just a pet peeve of mine, sorry.

I agree that it is an annoying question, but c'mon. Comparing a chef and his/her cooking equipment to a photographer and his/her choice of camera is a silly and awkward comparison. For one, cameras and their accompanying lenses make a much bigger difference with regards to photos than, say, pots or pans do with food.

Some of the best food anywhere is found in ramshackle, under-funded, unsanitary, and generally dirty places on the street or in hole-in-the-wall restos. I am pretty sure they don't have any top-of-the-line kitchen equipment. By comparison, a top-notch Canon or Nikon is pretty much guaranteed to make some sort of tangible difference, regardless of the photographer's skill (or lack thereof).

[volguus zildrohar]

That City Hall shot is killer, man. Great photos.

[photoLith]

Thanks, buffalos city hall is incredible, I've been wanting to visit it for years. Probably one of the best examples of Art Deco in the world I believe.

[MolsonExport]

Outstanding photo essay. Heartbreaking to see that once-lovely Buffalo train station so decrepit.

[Tony]

Excellent photos! BCS / BCT always makes me feel sad, so much hope when it was built.

[photoLith]

They are restoring the main part of the train station luckily.

[simms3_redux]

Amazing photos. I had the pleasure of going to Buffalo and Niagara Falls Ca a few years ago. Very interesting area.

[diskojoe]

Originally Posted by photoLith

I don't like those questions, but I use a d700, doesn't matter if you have a d3100 or a d4, the photographer is what matters, not the camera as much. Gear helps but good camera gear doesn't make someone a good photographer.

You never tell a great cook, jeez this food is amazing, what kind of stove and pots do you use. Just a pet peeve of mine, sorry.

Oh hush. The gear makes a difference, but you're right to say it doesn't make the photographer. This is a really good show here. Nice mix.

[relnahe]

Originally Posted by Westsidelife

And it's always fascinated me how Pittsburgh didn't go down the same path as, say, Buffalo or Cleveland. Maybe it's a Great Lakes thing?

Cleveland: 1950 914,808 2010 396,815

Buffalo: 1950 580,132 2010 261,310

Pittsburgh: 1950 676,806 2010 305,704

All 3 have lost well over half its population over the last 60 years.

[photoLith]

In pittsburgh you don't get the same feel of desolation and destruction that you get in Cleveland and buffalo especially. Pittsburgh feels lively, buffalo felt like it has no hope.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by relnahe

Cleveland: 1950 914,808 2010 396,815

Buffalo: 1950 580,132 2010 261,310

Pittsburgh: 1950 676,806 2010 305,704

All 3 have lost well over half its population over the last 60 years.

staggering statistics. Here are the numbers off-peak populations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrinki..._United_States

[photoLith]

Well i did see some of the northside, museum area, and the ohlmsted parks, just didnt have time to photograph it. Looked nice, that Richardson psych ward is in the northside.

[MplsTodd]

I've always liked Buffalo's early 20th century architecture, especially the City Hall and the Electric Building. I've never seen the old train station--your photos are amazing!!
Although Pittsburgh lost population as much as Buffalo and Cleveland did, I think it really benefitted from a much larger corporate base than Buffalo (and, to a lesser degree, Cleveland), as well as having the stabilizing influences of the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie-Mellon higher education. Plus the collapse of the steel industry in Pittsburgh hurt not only the city, but also the many mill towns throughout the region, which didn't set up the poor city/wealthy suburb scenario that occurred in Detroit (and, to a lesser degree, Cleveland).

[photoLith]

^
All the towns both east and west of pittsburgh along the rivers have all been anhilated largely since the closure of nearly all the steel mills. It's quite sad.