I recently strolled this segment of Soldier’s Circle on a glorious
summer evening. This is one of my favorite places in the city, and the
perfect sunset lighting made the place that much better. Each section of
Soldier’s Circle has its own distinct personality. There is the western
portion, dominated by the Wright designed Heath House. The northeastern
section is dominated by very grand houses and relatively large properties.
These images show my favorite part of the circle, the southern section.
The houses here are grand, but they are very densely grouped on small
lots and are pushed right up to the sidewalk and bracketed by large brick
buildings. On the west is the Gothic styled Buffalo Seminary School.
On the east is a very distinctive apartment building, which plays off
the architecture of the school (or is it the other way around?). Several
of the houses have beautiful room-like porches.
Each
building compliments its neighbor with distinctive compositions and varied
materials. Their closeness to the circle’s curving sidewalk creates a
very intimate and friendly urban space. This is a very unusual
juxtaposition to the public space for such grandly scaled houses. As I
walked by one house, a woman relaxing with her grown sons on the large porch
asked why I was taking pictures. This is a question I am often asked when
I have my camera with me. When I am photographing such obviously
beautiful architecture my first reaction is to answer with a snide “isn’t
it obvious?”
I realize their question is most likely a ploy
to talk with me about that beautiful architecture, so I refrain and answer
with a more civil response. Usually I end up in a wonderful conversation
and often learn something new. In this case we exchanged simple niceties
and as I moved on I suggested that she possessed a little slice of heaven.
She exclaimed that she has been telling people that since the day she
moved in decades earlier. We can’t all own one of these great homes, but we can
stroll though this piece of heaven any time we want.