SkyscraperCity Forum banner

(Northeast US) Buffalo and Rochester.

7K views 84 replies 22 participants last post by  Third of a kind 
#1 ·
Western New York's major urban areas.


Rochester!




































Buffalo!





























































A little something extra for you. Buffalo's Canadian neighbor, Hamilton, Ontario!




























 
See less See more
121
#2 ·
Nice pictures. I for one can see a small difference between Rochester and Buffalo. Maybe it's because I am familiar with Buffalo and I know when something from up there is not as familiar.

By the way, you don't have to put "Northeast US" into the thread titles. We know that these areas are in the Northeast US; that's why you put them in here.
 
#3 ·
I toured most of the area of Buffalo you have shown there, herodotus,around Elmwood, Bird Ave, in the middle north section near the Art Gallery and State College of Buffalo. Very nicely done and on a nice day. That neighborhood is so nice, I felt more like I was in a small town than a big city. Rochester's got some character as well, grittiness, and modernness, and beauty, some Rochester seems to show quite well. Thanks for the photos!
 
#5 ·
The differences are small and kind of hard to put into words. I guess a couple things that I can pick out are that Bufalo's commercial streets seem wider, whether it's because there are no trees along the retail streets, or whether they are simply just wider. Also, Buffalo's neighborhoods directly north of downtown (which appear to be prominent in the pictures) have a lot more trees, including more tall and old trees. Rochester's neighborhoods don't seem to have as many trees to me. Lastly, the housing styles are ever-so-slightly different.
 
#14 ·
I've been to both, Buffalo much more than Rochester. I'm basing my post mainly on these pictures, but each city in the Northeast definitely does things a little differently. Others have mentioned slight differences. Veryprotourism noted something that I agree with, which is that two-flat style of housing. It seems to be more prevalent in Buffalo than Rochester from my experience.
 
#8 ·
actually there is one very distinct difference between rochester and buffalo..................... TWO-FLATS!!!!!

rochester has only a few two-flats and they are generally scattered amongst
four squares and other vernacular styles. in buffalo the two-flat is the dominant vernacular housing. buffalo has entire neighborhoods that are almost(i say almost) exclusively two-flats. this isn't really illustrated in these photos as there are no east side or north buffalo photos.

i'm pretty sure the average lot size is smaller in buffalo as well, i can't varify that, it just seems that way.
 
#9 ·
perhaps its because i've lived in both areas, but the differences(physical) are apparent to me.

however, the uber-catholic-ness transfers almost unchanged from one to the other. culturally, atleast amongst average joes, the two cities are eerily similar. (its lent now guys, eat fish or god will smite you!!!)
 
#13 ·
Buffalo looks more built-up than Rochester. In Buffalo the lot sizes are smaller, and so the houses and buildings are more packed together. Rochester looks more like a small town. Buffalo has a more urban, gritty character than Rochester. Rochester is more clean. Buffalo has much more sections of identical houses right next to each other, while Rochester has more architectural variety.
 
#16 ·
The city of Rochester is definitely cleaner looking and feeling than Buffalo is. Of course we have gritty areas, but that is not the overall feel of Rochester. Buffalo has an overall Grit feeling to it.

Buffalo has some of the most beautiful architecture in the country, but the problem is that it was/is not preserved. You didnt even have a Landmark Society until the society in Rochester established a society in Buffalo. Buffalo has a blue collar feel to it even in the suburbs. Rochester has a white collar feel to it, especially in the suburbs.

Herod...If you ever make your way up here again be sure to hit East Ave, University Ave and all the streets off of them. The South Wedge you touched a little bit, but there are definitely more places to take pics. The St Paul Qtr and Corn Hill also offer a plethora of shots.
 
#18 ·
whatever man...Rochester has lost that "white collar" image...well in every place outside ROC, maybe you guys still think its true.

I won't say Rochester is cleaner than Buffalo...I don't think its true and I'm sure others disagree...but Syracuse struck me as very similar to Rochester and trumped it hands down as far as how clean it was...and thats my opinion.

I would like some more examples as to how ROC is "cleaner" than the BUFF. please :)
 
#19 ·
i don't think rochester is necessarily cleaner. the INHABITED grit is pretty similar. abandonment is where buffalo takes the cake. rochester doesn't have nearly the old industrial grit that buffalo has. there are areas in rochester with unused/underused industrial space but there isn't nearly as many rotting shells or brownfield sites in rochester.
 
#20 ·
gotta agree with that. i don't think the city of Rochester ever had the "white collar" imagve that rochesteraddict was referring to and buffcity was denying....but it's suburbs do; most of them anyways. There really wasn't such a thing as a "white collar city" when the city of Rochester was in its heyday....but it was however considered one of the more high-tech cities in the country for a long time. I do think that Greater Rochester does have a somewhat more white-collar feel to it than Greater Buffalo does. Mostly because of "the P towns", Webster, Brighton, and parts of North Greece.
 
#43 ·
Rochester Metro is more White Collar now and is increasing, than it ever was. As the baby boomer Kodak factory workers retire, die, or leave for the south (Peace!) all the new jobs added are research, high tech, and science related. These are not call center jobs, we are gaining scientists and engineers.

You may not believe we are White Collar, but McDonalds is testing their gourmet coffees here because they were searching for a small White Collar city to test their products.

This story: http://www.10nbc.com/index.asp?template=item&story_id=21712speaks of how people are purchasing summer homes here and Napa Valley people are buying wineries in the finger lakes and enjoying the Greater Rochester area.

The new Roc Mag: http://www.rochmagazine.com/
Talks about how Ted Nugent (Founder of the Rochester International Jazz fest) moved from NYC and Toronto to Roc because of the culture and class the area has.

You may have one view, but many others have a very different view. Rochester is slowly becoming noticed by the rest of the country. Kodak layoffs may be the talk of Batavia, but we have MANY other great things going on.
 
#26 ·
so...are two flats single family homes? or are they actually "Two flats"...they look like they could go either way...i was always under the impression most houses in Buffalo were (at least originally) single family dwellings.
 
#30 ·
see, now you are just guessing.

not necessarily. usually they were built as two seperate living spaces. thats not to say that you didn't often have family living upstairs, but conversion to single family homes is more recent. i think it is still more common for these to act as a home with a rental unit upstairs than it is for them to be one connected home.
more often than not these were and still are seperate units housing two seperate living spaces, usually identical(kitchen bath and all), or damn close to it.

thank you cyburbia for posting the two-flat pics. these just don't exist in the sheer proportion/percentage anywhere like they do in buffalo.
 
#33 · (Edited)
from my experience milwaukee does have them but they are blended amongst four squares and single family bungalows. that said, milwaukee's housing stock resembles buffalo's more than any city i've been to. more so than rochester's.

cleveland does have quite a few but they are generally a little different from buffalo two flats. two flats in cleveland tend to have an open bottom porch rather than a sunroom or whatever you would call the bottom porch on a buffalo two flat. they also tend to be brick.
i'm not real familiar with two flats in cleveland so perhaps someone can elaborate on this.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top