The Buffalo Resurgence, or: Inspiration From a Former Church
We are on our way to Niagara Falls and my guide doesn’t understand why I want to talk about a fire-damaged church.
“Well, the church was damaged by fire until it wasn’t structurally sound” Brian Hayden of Visit Buffalo Niagara explains patiently, “But the tower remained, and the plan is to put some condos and apartments in there and use the tower as part of that. I mean, I guess that’s kind of intriguing, but it seems like it will be more interesting once the condos are actually there.”
Pictured: A great metaphor. Trust me.
I can tell Brian would rather be telling me how much water falls over the crest of Niagara Falls every minute (six million cubic feet, if you’re interested) , and I can’t really blame him. Brian has spent the weekend rattling off innumerable facts about Buffalo’s architecture, heritage, and culture, and he is showing no signs of slowing down. I briefly wonder whether I will love anything in my life the way that Brian loves the city of Buffalo, New York.
For my purpose, however, the church site we passed by earlier that day is a small indicator of the general Buffalo resurgence, the sense of restoration, renewal, and preservation which flows through the weekend, and indeed, the entire city of Buffalo. The first thing you notice about conversations with Buffalonians is that they always contain phrases like “The city’s really coming back!” or “We’re really lucky to have this here!”
Despite not being mentioned in this article, Niagara Falls really is awesome.
It’s a city which spent several decades as the butt of a joke, now on the verge of a true artistic and industrial renaissance thanks to the passion and commitment of people like Brian, people who devote themselves to pressing the city into the future while still preserving and integrating pieces of the past. I can’t imagine a better symbol for resurrection than a modified house of worship… except as Brian points out, the most interesting part isn’t here yet.
What Came Before
The latter half of the 20th century was not kind to Buffalo. The loss of the steel and train industries left the once-central industry hub’s population decimated. For a period, it looked as though Buffalo would become an abandoned city like their neighbor across-the-lake Detroit.
But over the past fifteen years, the relative affordability and natural beauty of the area made Buffalo an attractive haven for artists. Beautiful architecture left over from the early 20th century (When upstate NY was a favorite home-away-from-home for the richest NYC residents hoping to spend summers hunting and not catching polio) was suddenly available at reasonable prices.
This series of events made Buffalo home to some of the most unique and exciting stories of building rescue and renewal – mostly by turning them into places to watch music and drink. In my short time in the city I wandered through abandoned chapels which had been turned into concert halls by rock stars. (More churches!) I went to an opening-day celebration for the aptly-named Resurgence Brewing – housed in a building that began life as a warehouse in Buffalo’s industrial district, and now provides some of the best and most distinctive craft brews on the East Coast.
I even watched the initial building phases of the arts barge, a plan by the Burchfield-Penney Art Center to transform the now-defunct shipping method that Buffalo was founded on into a mobile arts center, bringing beautiful exhibitions and ongoing projects all throughout the Erie Canal. All throughout the city, old buildings are being transformed into new usable spaces. Fellow MCG writer Nicole even got some inspiration for refreshing her own living space.
Inside: An art museum, two concert venues, a movie theater,a bar, and a music industry office. Seriously.
The Recycled City
Buffalo is a city with a knack for finding new and exciting uses for abandoned or unwanted spaces, and the most stunning example of this is the repurposing of Buffalo’s Silo City district. Named for the massive 200-foot cement cylinders which used to house grain and commodities for shipping, the towers now sit empty.
But for one night a year, the city’s artistic community gathers together to remold and re-shape these buildings into the City of Night festival (taken from an old nickname for Buffalo, “City of Light”), an event which is part art exhibit, part rave, and part street fair. The interconnected tubes and catacombs serve as a testament to the creativity of the community, often times stretching the imagination of the artist literally into the sky.
From This….
These towers, once symbols of industry and capitalism, now serve a different purpose, to explore the human perceptions of sight and sound. There are currently plans to adapt Silo City’s pillars for more practical purposes during the other 364 days of the year, including an amazing-sounding rock climbing wall, but this particular night is an insightful microcosm of the Buffalo resugence. The event hails itself as a celebration of sustainability, with artwork made from scrap wire and laundry baskets. It is fitting then, that this celebration of renewal takes place inside a repurposed building that was once the primary tenant of existence for this, The Recycled City.
To This!
With a lot of this
From the Ashes
The revitalization of Buffalo has created an cyclical effect on its residents. The more energy they are putting into it, the more they continue to get back. So it’s completely understandable why Brian would miss the metaphor I saw in the remains of the church, he’s too busy talking about all the amazing things he sees in the city at present to focus on what will be their soon. But as an outsider, the poet in me appreciates the symbolism of this spot in this city. Much more akin to a Phoenix than the actual city of Phoenix (which is mostly strip malls and tract housing), Buffalo needs a few ashes from which to rise. If the Buffalo resurgence I saw that weekend was any indication, the City of Light is shining brightly once more.
