3 replies to this topic

[colin]

I had wanted to see Buffalo for a while, in part because of its Central Terminal. I'm not sure who knows what or if it's been mentioned on here before, but it's essentially a huge (17 stories, I think) abandoned railroad depot east of Downtown Buffalo. It was abandoned in the early 1980's and allowed to decay to the sorry state it's in now.
As it stands, it's open occassionally for events and some tours, but the tower is, for the most part, completely inaccessible. I had been fascinated with it, and had just intended to stop by and take a few pictures of it but, much to my delight, it was open the day I went for a high school art showing.
I also got the chance to talk at some length with one of the members of the society responsible for renovating and saving the building. There's a lot of history there, and it's amazing that the place is open at all with what's happened to it: excessive vandalism, flooding, various fires, Buffalo winters, etc.

Info:
Preservation society with events listing (June 2, an excellent local rock band called Knife Crazy is playing there)
Urban explorer's site pre-restoration and where I originally learned about the site

Pictures:
Inside:









The old cafe. You can see the marks where the stools once were.



The "gift shop". I'm not sure if this was staged or not, but it was very eerie:


Outside:

[tombarnes]

The Buffalo Central Terminal is magnificent.  I hope that a good use for it can be found.  Whay not bring back the trains?  I know that that alone wouldn't support much, but surely the tower and the vast support spaces could be put to good use.  At least it has been preserved up to a point.  This represents a great challenge for the city.  Nice pictures.

[Jim856796]

This building looks like it needs a renovation rather than a demolition. We have got to find a permanent use for the building. I couldn't find a proper use for the terminal myself.

[kermit]

tombarnes, on Jun 4 2007, 01:12 AM, said:

Whay not bring back the trains?  I know that that alone wouldn't support much, but surely the tower and the vast support spaces could be put to good use.  At least it has been preserved up to a point.  This represents a great challenge for the city.

Its a great building and definitely worth saving. However, its really in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a grim part of town. Its peripheral location makes it impractical for trains and offices without substantial improvements.  

On the plus side, the city has done a good job of sealing the building up. The building has not turned into Michigan Central Station (a true disaster). http://www.seedetroi...ictures/mcsweb/