Buffalo

I know that many of you wouldn't think of Buffalo, New York as having much to see, yet I was impressed by its stately architecture. For those of you who are architecture buffs, this post is for you.

In case you didn't know, Buffalo once rivaled New York City as THE city in New York State. It was a place flush with lots of money due to its strategic position as a transportation hub on the Great Lakes, and the fact that it wasn't far from commercials centers like New York City and Boston. Back in the day, Buffalo had a whole lot of swagger, and you can see that through so many of the buildings throughout the city.

First off, they've got their own Statue of Liberty. Well, sort of....

on top of a building in downtown Buffalo

There are more than one of these, and I have to admit that I thought they were a little freaky. I'm used to the Statue of Liberty having its own island, so it's just a little jarring to see it on top of a building.

I would say that the most beautiful facade we saw was for the Prudential Building also in downtown Buffalo. The facade is made of this gorgeous copper. The pictures are much better than anything that I could describe.

While this isn't the best pic of Buffalo's City Hall, I do think it's rather impressive.

Buffalo's notable architecture isn't limited to downtown. For those of you familar with the very prominent American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, you may have heard of Darwin D. Martin House. It's one of his seminal designs from the Prairie School era, and it's considered one of his most important works.

So here's the kicker re: Darwin D. Martin House. In order to see the inside you've got to take a 2 hour tour of the house. 2 HOURS?! That's the "in-depth" one, but even the basic tour is still one hour. Uh, no...we walked around the outside.

Darwin D. Martin House

From the outside we could see Wright's attention to detail in the design.

A side door

windows

Since we didn't go on the tour, I did get a chance to see some of the interior shots in the visitors' center. This kitchen could rival anything that we have today. Darwin D. Martin House was completed in 1905. This looks straight out of the 60's.

This is just a taste of Buffalo's built beauty. I won't even show you some of the gorgeous houses we saw. Husband J and I were jokingly considering trading in our apartment for a house.

Like I said before: Buffalo is more than just wings!