Old... meet new.

...yep, missed an opportunity on The Hill.

But on the bright side, I noticed cherry picker cranes up to the top of the grain elevator across the river from the old Pier. Something good to reuse the silos is happening by ECHDC?

"line the pockets of the demolition crew"? That's the angle you want to take there, that blue collar guys working to make a buck are getting their pockets "lined"?

"a lesson from our ancestors who built this city to be a world class destination."

Come on now with the fluff writing. How many of our ancestors ever thought of Buffalo as a world class destination? Buffalo has always been know as a dirty working class city, lets embrace this image any try to not rewrite history.

Looks like something like this may be the only option left for the Cooperage.

I've read (on BRO, I believe) that the new building at the Cloister site on the corner of Delaware and Virginia may incorporate the Mark Twain carriage house, if it ever gets built.

Queenseyes>"The next time we contemplate destroying our heritage, let's not line the pockets of the demolition crew."

Ironic to scapegoat it even partially on "line the pockets of the demolition crew" if no wealthy or upper income people (or group of mid/low income people chipping in) chose to proactively reach into their own pockets to buy St Mary's and protect it before it was acquired by someone from out of town who I'd bet probably had no track record of ever rehabbing a building like that.

Obviously it was for sale when the lady from out of town bought it.
If any of you guys had offered more than she did, why wouldn't the previous owner have sold it you instead?

(Can't believably claim being too busy with your lives to have been aware of St Mary's until it was too late either… wasn't it was a well known building?)

Queenseyes>"we can only wonder what would have happened if we there had been an architecturally progressive administration in place to stop the madness.

Also can only wonder what would have happened if "there had been an architecturally progressive" person (or group of them chipping in together) to simply buy it back when they could have.

I dont understand how someone could possibly come to the conclusion that our city founding fathers never thought of Buffalo as a world class city.

-multiple international wars (French and Indian, Revolution, War of 1812)
-An international port
-1901 PAN AM (world class exposition)
-TESLA AC Power Plant in Niagara Falls made us world class in technology
-numerous world class industries came out of our city
-world class park system (Olmstead)
-numerous world class homes and city buildings by world class architects
-numerous world class artists, scultures, furniture, etc.

and this is a short list...to say our fore fathers never thought of Buffalo as a world class city is to ignore everything above.

We will never be a world class city the size of NYC or Paris but we can be a world class midsize city with the equivalent history and culture of NYC or Philly.

The question is...poverty aside...why...doesnt Buffalo want to aspire to its historical and cultural legacy as a means to attract jobs and growth through quality of life?

I love the juxtaposition of old and new being melded together in these photographs.

However, I suspect the catalyst or driving force earmarking the difference between the United States and Europe is the amount of real estate available where certain regions in Europe have limited options to build unlike the United States which is probably the forerunner in urban sprawl and a culture of individuals who could care less about limiting their carbon footprint and the very thought of resurrecting a 100-year old building is either out-of-the-question or simply too costly.

St Mary’s on the Hill was an ideal building to “retrofit” but Buffalo seems to have an abundance of buildings that remain fully intact but languish year after year mostly because of the locations they’re located in and not so much for the renovation cost.

How many McMansion do you drive by that scream Barden Home Design and sit on several acres of property that were, more often than not, farm land at one time? So, money is definitely not the problem but more of a desire to limit your possible encounters with neighbors or urban street crime.

Albert Einstein is accredited with making the statement of the more technology controls our lives the more we will lose our humanity.

Think of that statement the next time you see a carful of teenagers or young adults where none are talking to each other because they’re all too busy texting or emailing (probably each other!).