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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