What were they thinking?!

Regardless of whether you rent or own your home or apartment, if you live in WNY, you have probably asked yourself "what were they thinking?!" when moving, renovating, or redecorating.

I can attest to that in basically every place I've lived, with the only exception being a new-ish apartment building, there have been design choices I don't understand. The most recent example is the house we live in now, where I removed a door on the first day we moved in because I hated it. They also carpeted over hardwood. HARDWOOD. (PS we can help with that situation, given our firsthand experience.)

Anyway, this got me thinking about how old the architecture is in WNY. We have some pretty famous architects that have called Buffalo home, and are lucky to have a robust architecture program at UB. Despite all the cool things that come out of Buffalo, I suspect previous homeowners have just been doing the best they can with the age of the buildings and the design choices of the people before them. And, even with that small bit of empathy, I will continue to judge them whenever I run into something weird.

First, I want to draw your attention to https://buffaloah.com/a/archsty/ . They are much more detailed than I was even thinking of being, and it is clear they have both a passion and the knowledge for Buffalo architecture.

Some of my favorite house types from their list are Victorian, Bungalow, and Buffalo Doubles.

Now, the Victorian is obvious. It is just so pretty! I would love to live in a Victorian some day... as long as it was updated by the people before me. If you take a look at the list, it is some of the oldest architecture in Buffalo homes, beginning in 1830! I would suspect very little is "original" in those homes anymore, but don't take my word as gospel for that. But how cool would it be to own one of these homes and make some style and design choices that honor the age of the home?

For both the Bungalow and the Buffalo Doubles, I wouldn't say their looks are what attract me to them. I love them because they reflect Buffalo. They are similar to the rest of the Rust Belt or Northeast, but it is impossible to drive around this area without seeing this kind of home. I feel like this home claims Buffalo as home, you know? Again, it seems like you could do a lot with these houses to pay homage to WNY, through both design and materials.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sweep both the fake hardwood in my dining room, and the real hardwood in my living room. And maybe try to clean the dust from between panels on the walls of both rooms.

What a choice...