THE CITY OF GOOD NEIGHBORS

Buffalo has been nicknamed the “City of Good Neighbors.” While exploring the city’s lost neighborhoods and photographing abandoned homes, I noticed a common architectural element. Most houses have front porches. It’s easy to imagine a time, when the area’s population was at its height, that people came out of their front door and waved to a neighbor several houses down the street. Children played their games up and down the stairs from one porch to another while mothers looked over and shared some news with a neighbor. The architecture itself, sets up a light and steady neighborhood communication that, though broken in some places, is still alive and active in other parts of Buffalo.

Here are 3 photos of abandoned houses plus one of my “discarded ancestor” collages. The mother/child photo was in an album thrown out on the street. The house marked 202 Rodney Street was demolished this year.

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