Ouch: Buffalo Named The Lea

Buffalo is the least fashionable city in America, according to a new ranking from Bundle.com. How...

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Construction Watch: Aldi @

Aldi has broken ground on its new supermarket located at 998 Broadway, directly across from...

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Rendering vs Reality: 600 D

Darn close. Alliance Advisory Group, Inc. and 600 Delaware, LLC purchased and renovated 600 Delaware...

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STEEL: February 2012 Archives

City February 22, 2012 11:37 AM

Symphony Circle, Looking Fine Once Again (for now)

STEEL 51

I have been doing a lot of complaining about what is wrong with the city lately. But that is just one side of the story. We can't ignore what is right with the city today. A few years ago I wrote a post about the Birge Mansion, showing it back in the 1980s versus now. Back in the 80s the house was a boarded up wreck waiting for demolition. Right there on one of Buffalo's premier public squares across from Kleinhans Music Hall was a rotting mess of a building. Back in the 70s and 80s this was just an accepted condition for Buffalo. Of course, eventually people stepped forward who did not think it was acceptable to allow this wonderful mansion to rot away. It was restored and is now a fully functional piece of Buffalo's and America's architectural heritage. I say America's heritage for a reason.
Buffalo's heritage needs to be thought of in the

City February 11, 2012 12:23 PM

Where is the plan? That's right, we don't have one.

STEEL 51

This is the former EV Ref Salem's Kirche built in 1907 located at 413 Sherman Street in Buffalo. It has been vacant for years. It recently popped up in conversation on Buffalo Rising and on the Preservation Ready Facebook page. David Torke at Fix Buffalo has been writing about the plight of this wonderful little church for years. I had wanted to write about it after I saw it on his

City February 10, 2012 8:36 AM

Wrecking Buffalo: Garbage, Buffalo Style

STEEL 49

In America. and especially Buffalo, historic well-crafted irreplaceable buildings like the two buildings shown here are no longer valued. They are as useful to us as our trash - they often don't even rank as high as our household recycle bin. The ugly buildings of homogenized America is what we now value. Buffalo and WNY spends its limited resources expanding the cheap Styrofoam sprawl scape, while removing these great buildings that could have centuries of usefulness if properly managed. These buildings cannot be replaced.
This gorgeous church

City February 6, 2012 8:42 AM

Preservation Ready: The Churches of Buffalo

STEEL 30

Buffalo has an amazing and important collection of magnificent historic churches. It is a collection of great architectural heritage that ranks up there with any city in America and surpasses most. It is a heritage built mostly with the hard earned dollars and devotion of Buffalo's early working class residents. Much of this irreplaceable heritage is now being thrown away by WNY's current residents. I was scheduled to write this story back in December but somehow could not bring myself to do it. With the closing of so many churches over the last two decades the problem

City February 1, 2012 9:04 AM

My Favorite Buildings: LaSalle Apartments

STEEL 13

A few months ago a reader asked if I would highlight a historic apartment building which sits at the west end of Chippewa. I said I would. I have always admired the building and it fit in well with my "favorites" series in which I like to give some attention to great buildings that are off the radar of people's architectural awareness. THe problem was, I only had one photo of the building (that I could not find) and I had no information on it. Then... Wooohoo! In steps my FB friend with his slew of historic news paper clippings and a guess what? A story on the LaSalle