Buffalo & Erie County Public Library Staff Review by Patricia Covley:
Buffalo's Legacy of Power and Might by Michael Rizzo harkens back to a time when "Buffalo was known for much more than merely chicken wings." All the structures Rizzo has chosen to include are commercial buildings. He tells the history of each building featured and then discloses why, in his opinion, the building still matters.
Rizzo displays an interesting mixture of photographs. Some of the pictures show buildings that at first glance don't appear to be much. The picture of Lederman's Furniture Store across from the Broadway Market falls into this category. Upon a second look, however, the reader can appreciate the "Art Deco ornamentation and the company name emblazoned across the top" of the building.
Buffalo's Legacy of Power and Might made me wistful for a time when buildings were constructed to last and had some personality. I enjoyed this book. With a little imagination, I could conjure up an image of what each building was like in its heyday.
If you're interested in this book, there is a library in your neighborhood where you can find it. Your public library is a source of immediate gratification. Take a walk to your local branch and discover a vital resource that is there for the taking. Whether it's current events, a visit to our downtown cafe called Fables, something for the kids, or even booking a librarian, we're not just books anymore! Your free Buffalo & Erie County Public Library card is your ticket to millions of free resources - e-books, downloadable music, research databases, genealogical materials, our complete catalog, and of course, more than 3 million book titles. All of this is at your fingertips at any Library in Erie County or from your own computer - check us out at www.buffalolib.org.
There is no reason this building can't be built today
It also re-inforces my point about Buffalo. We will never be an LA, Dallas, Atlanta or Miami Or Toronto.
we can be a Charleston, midsize DC or Philadelphia. The positive press Buffalo does get is always about history and culture. Other cities have taken their culture and history...branded themselves, used it to market their quality of life, their schools etc.
Its why demolished mistakes should be rebuilt and endangered should be preserved. Embrace our golden age...invest in it. We can't be a new city again...we can't compete with them as a new city.
This is very pessimistic of you.
We should embrace our past, but we also have to look to the future. Without investing in modern and future industries Buffalo will continue to lose people, making revitalizing these building useless and neigh financially impossible.
Look at the great success of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus! Initiatives like that should be the future of Buffalo. And in fact the revitalization of past architectural works is dependent upon the growth of the city.
The past is the foundation we can build upon; however the past is not the end-all solution.
You are absolutely correct.
The Life Sciences Campus is the perfect example of New Buffalo where modern and contemporary architecture are of a class on par with other great cities.
Much of the eastside is gone...though there are areas that should can be saved and should be saved like the Hamlin, Masten, Humboldt and Larkin areas...Lovejoy is still pretty intact. Other than than there is plenty of room for new industry, commerce and residential.
The same can be said for the Outer Harbor and Kelly Island.
However the area between the Niagara River and Main Street from Canalside to Black Rock is preservable, historical and cultural...its our prime area. When positive articles are written about Buffalo...they are written about this area. This is where old Buffalo nourishes new Buffalo.
Why do people love old neighborhoods throughout the world when the new and modern has so many conveniences? Studies have shown that people are more relaxed among older well kept buildings. It gives them a sense of continuity and safety...that there was something before and there will be something after that they are woven into...where the new can be sterile and isolated. We have things because of our age that newer cities cant duplicate...this is where we have advantage. We dismiss it at our own peril.