This Saturday, September 28th and It’s Free. See Details Below for Registering
Posted September 25th, 2024 with a Foreword by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Two Thumbs Up to Buffalo, Its People and Its Architectural Gems from Doug Draper –
If you have only ever driven around the beltways of Buffalo, New York on your way to the airport, the thruway or a suburban mall, you may be surprised to discover that the city’s downtown and many of its neighbourhoods to the north are home to what experts in the field of urbanism say is some of the finest architecture and urban landscape in North America.
Many of Buffalo’s architectural gems go back to the 18th and early 19th centuries when the city’s economy – fueled by all the big mills for steel, flour and other commodities once operating near the upper reaches of the Erie Canal – gave rise to more millionaires per capita at the time than any other city in the United States.
All that money also attracted some of best architects, including the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, and landscape architect extraordinaire Frederick Law Olmstead, who was the mastermind behind New York City’s Central Park and who is responsible for so many of the parks and shady boulevards that make the city such an Eden for gardens and trees.
And for people on the Ontario side of the Niagara River, it is all right there across the Peace Bridge, if only we give ourselves a chance to explore city rather than just drive around it.
If you are not sure where to start your journey or even if you have been a visitor to the city before, a non-profit tour organization called Explore Buffalo is once again hosting it annual Doors Open Buffalo this Saturday, September 28th, where you can visit a number of great buildings and museums, free of charge, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
A collage of some of Buffalo’s fine buildings, from the Explore Buffalo website
Most of the buildings on this tour are in or close to the centre of the downtown. But after the Doors Open event is over, you can head north up Delaware or Elwood Avenue and enjoy some of the grand old neighbourhoods between those two avenues and around Delaware Park – neighbourhoods that have been drawing a growing number of Holliday producers in recent years who are looking for just the right place to film stories set in the
By the way, most of these neighbourhoods are carefully protected and preserved by community groups who have done an impressive job of ensuring that developers and other parties do anything to buildings or surrounding landscape that is not in keeping with their neighbourhood’s character.
We have some, but I wish we had far more of that community spirit in Niagara.
That’s my tribute to Buffalo and its people. Now here is some information on Doors Open Niagara from Explore Niagara –
About Doors Open Buffalo: Doors Open Buffalo, Explore Buffalo’s signature annual event, is a day of free public access to architecturally and historically significant locations. The goal of Doors Open Buffalo is to excite visitors about Buffalo’s unique architectural heritage.
Doors Open Buffalo is a unique opportunity to visit building interiors that are often not open to the public, and is a choose-your-own-adventure event: visitors can visit as many locations and in whatever order they wish. Typically held on the last Saturday of September, Doors Open Buffalo attracts thousands of visitors each year.
For details on Doors Open Buffalo and for registration information, click on – https://www.visitbuffaloniagara.com/event/doors-open-buffalo-2024/
For more on Explore Buffalo and other fun and interesting events it offers visitors, click on – https://explorebuffalo.org/
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