Can ya paint some people in those windows?

Someone actually thought that adding those black rectangles would be good and that people would think they were windows?

In a positive light, this whole block at one time had ALL those buildings covered like this and with ads and neon lights.

Look at this photo from 1967 and see this same building covered with the word K.A.Y. over it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35110402@N06/3256251740/

eeek, the dry-vit fungus ate this building!

Only in Buffalo, what a pile of crap! I'd give the owner $4.00 and that's pushing it.

Lego1981 that flirk stream is interesting and sad at the same time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35110402@N06/3256249766/

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It looks like a Carl Paladino special.

Well, at least it's a standing structure that can be renovated. Sometimes, you have to be grateful for the little things.

Seriously? This is an actual story? Perhaps the name of the site should be changed from Buffalo Rising to Buffalo B*tching. It would be a more appropriate name...

I believe they used a Swingline staple gun for the installation.

Finally something we can all agree on. This is horrible.

Time to enforce some design standards on Main Street.

So let's see. The building is up. There's something in it, at least. It doesn't look run-down. If you're standing a block away taking in the entire scene, your eye would just flash right over it and not think twice because it would just blend in with the rest.

And of course, the BR crew will be there to point and say "See? See? Evil!"

Not every building needs to be a masterpiece.

-Enforce- design standards? Do you want anyone to do anything anywhere in the city?

There would have to be a demand to buy these buildings before you could even think of enforcing any design standards. If no one wants these buildings now without having to adhere to guidelines, they certainly wouldn't want them if they had to design they're own property base on a strict set of rules. That's kind of putting the cart before the horse.

I've always thought that this building, properly rehabbed, would be the PERFECT spot for Buffalo's first IKEA Store.

Honestly, I never really looked at this building as an eyesore. I'd rather see acutual windows in the upper floors, but at least it has a clean looking business on the first floor. I think we should really focus our attention the buildings surrounding this one since they are completly vacant and can use paint jobs.

It sounds like this dryvit-fake-window facade is possibly a big improvement over what was there before. I wouldn't rush to judge. As someone else mentioned, it's not vacant and it's not an eyesore. And it's not a parking lot. In a way they preserved the original building through the "dark years" of Main Street's history.

Queenseyes: You think painting people in the windows would be an improvment?

Based on a post I made on another message board, in response to a question about why so many retail building facades were covered over in American downtowns during the 1940s and 1950s:

Facades of older structures were usually covered over for the following reasons:

* You know how in the eyes of many today, commercial architecture from the 1950s and 1960s seems tacky, ugly and dated in a not-so-good-way? Now, take that mindset, and go back in time 50 years. A building built in 1960 is literally as old to us as a structure built in 1900 or 1910 was to those living in the Nifty Fifties and Mad Men era. Considering few of us call for the preservation and restoration of ordinary mid-century structures, how could we have expected the people living generations ago to recognize the beauty inherent in what were just considered ordinary buildings of their recent past?

* Downtown businesses of the area realized that new plazas and malls in growing suburbs were a threat, but they didn't know how to respond. There was a prevalent attitude of "newer is better" in the era, and that the detailed facades of pre-War structures weren't in keeping with a jet-age nation. To compete with the shiny new plazas and malls, property and business owners believed that updating their buildings to look newer would help downtown and neighborhood shopping districts compete.

* The facade of a renovated building might look spectacular, but it didn't look anything like that in the 1950s and 1960s, before it was covered up. Grime and soot permeated brick, mortar, terra cotta, and other architectural details. Faded turn-of-the-century era painted signs often covered ever exposed surface. Peeling paint covered doors, window mullions and elsewhere. Thanks to the economic crisis of the Depression and material shortages of WWII, decades of deferred maintenance took their toll on older structures. It was cheaper and easier to cover over the old facade than to restore it.

It looks hip! Very Toronto!

I agree with Lego that the decline of downtown began long before the 60's, but as I remember it, it was still a viable center well into the 60's. The suburban malls were just taking off in the late 50's with smaller versions of the big department stores leaving a lot to be desired. Suburbanites still traveled into the city to do serious retail shopping where you would find the full lines of manufacturers' goods and those of competitors. Going downtown was more like a purposeful excursion with may destinations included. Movie theaters were also a big draw.
Public transportation to and from the downtown area from at least first ring suburbs was excellent and very reasonably priced. The traffic design of Buffalo lent itself to such a system.
So, it is with sadness and nostalgia that I view these archival photos of the 1960's. It was still a vibrant place even on weekends. A closer look at these photos will reveal much more that is no longer there.