The Larkin District represents the “skyline” of the Hydraulics. The image of Larkin factory and warehouse buildings towering over the neighborhood is stirring, particularly from rare roof perspectives. The following images, taken recently while peeking through the roof portals (sorry, no public access!) of Larkin Building N at 701 Seneca, communicate a post-industrial agglomeration of prodigious scale, signifying the old and new Buffalo simultaneously.

The reemergence of the Larkin District as an important center of activity is an exciting development. The Larkin Terminal Warehouse, shown above, is at the heart of its ongoing rejuvenation as a preferred location for creative professionals and knowledge-based industries.

The Larkin District’s edgy industrial character is now an economic asset, fueling new investment in an area increasingly considered an extension of downtown. Smokestacks (like the stack of the Larkin Power House, above) no longer represent unsavory aspects of industrialization, and now make for inspiring backdrops on an economic development canvas. Here’s to a great view of the past – and the future!

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Plastic, suburban houses create the foreground for a massive factory complex. The houses seem to say: “See, aren’t you fooled? This isn’t the old Buffalo. This is just like suburbia. Don’t look at those smokestacks or the man behind the curtain!” The same scene can be eyed in neighborhoods all over Buffalo where dense, immigrant enclaves have given way to grassy fields and the occasional surviving house – or, as in this case, to new houses that seem to reflect a more rural or suburban character, opposite that of the historical city. The houses depicted here are fine houses, very well maintained by caring owners, but say much about a trajectory of urban planning that favors suburbanization of the city.

Buffalo is a hearty town, full of survivors, but there also seems to be an immense insecurity in local culture about how the city is perceived by the world. The above scene appears to mask over post-industrial realities, revealing an identity crisis in a city still hurting from the collapse of steel and grain. It indicates a city that is eager to become something it has never been. It also belies an increasing awareness of the economic and cultural value of the city’s traditional neighborhoods and industrial landscapes.

As industrial heritage assets only now begin to fuel economic development and heritage tourism in the city, the painfall fallout of the city’s deindustrialization appears to be wearing off. Artists, developers, apartment-seekers, office space hunters, all seem to celebrate this industrial legacy now. The suburban lifestyle is losing popularity, and in-town living is in vogue like never before… but as older building stock continues to be demolished and replaced with “vinyl victorians” in down-on-their-luck neighborhoods all over the city, one wonders when it will finally be okay for Buffalo to be itself again.

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