Aerial Views

The American landscape is very intriguing. I actually started in New York State and took a look at the way the counties are laid out. I wanted to start there and then take a closer look at Erie county. 

The counties themselves just seem haphazardly put together. I'm assuming they are divided by natural landmarks among other things. Erie county itself has some sort of pattern with roads going vertically and horizontally. 

As you can see it looks almost like its divided with a solid line down the middle.  When you look closer, at say Cheektowaga there is even more of a distinct pattern of roads and houses.

I then wanted to look at a few other states, New Mexico is much like New York with its counties and how it's roads are set up. 

The counties are just everywhere and anywhere it seems but the roads and houses have a much more distinct pattern. Texas on the other hand is completely different, the counties there are just chopped up into almost equal squares. 

I thought it was interesting to look at industrial farms in Texas as well. From what I saw is many found them pretty while others found them ugly and vile. 

On the flip side you have farm land that is something we may all be more used to seeing. Then we have a view of Oxnard farm fields in spring with Ventura City and Pacific Ocean in the background which is in Ventura City, California. 

The view of this is amazing with many different attributes. Not only is there the farm pattern, but also the city behind it. 

Millionaire's Row!

This weekend I went on the Millionaire's Row walking tour. I think it actually fits in nicely with our homework assignment this week as well. These houses are not only classy, but they also scream money. While on the tour we were actually fortunate enough to be able to go in two of the houses, which I guess is rare. I was shocked to find out how many more mansions there used to be. I want to say at least 5 were knocked down, not to mention the many that were knocked down by children so they could rebuild a new mansion. Another thing to keep in mind is that most of these mansions have been repurposed and are not residential, but commercial buildings now. 

The house I liked the most, at leas tfor its exterior was the Charles W. Goodyear House. It now functions as the Oracle School, which i believe is a charter school. The exterior is a French Renaissance Revival and it is stunning. The roof stands out do to its green color, and it clearly shows the French architecture. The architecture of the house was by Green and Wicks who were a very prominent architecture firm in Buffalo. The was built in 1902 and luckily still stands today! 

We were fortunate enough to be able to tour what is now a building owned by the American Red Cross. It was owned by Carolyn Tripp, who during her life worked with the Red Cross and donated her hosue to them after she passed away. 

The mansion itself is absolutely huge! There are three levels, the third they presume was where the servants lived. The mansion also had an elevator, which is still in working condition. It was actually the first residential elevator in Buffalo! There is also furniture in the building at the top of the staircase that was original furniture that was refurbished. It is hard to believe that she only lived here with her 6 children. It is overwhelming to be in a place with such detail and grandeur. 

The tour was more about the stories of the people rather than the architecture, however it was still very interesting. A lot of the families married each other, so the millionaires of Buffalo kept to their little strip on Delaware Avenue. Many buildings were demolished before preservation became a big deal, many were knocked down by family memebers because they could no longer afford them or because they wanted to rebuild a new house. From my understanding there are only 2 or 3 that are still being used as residential, while most others are owned by businesses. There seem to be many different arhitectural designs as well including French Renaissance, Tudor, Victorian, and Spanish among others.

As you can see there are many different styles, and it is honestly hard to decide which one is my favorite. The last picture above is actually a very early mansion, which is why it looks smaller, it is clearly more colonial, however at the time i am sure it was considered very large. Man yof these houses were built for anywhere from about 50,000 to 500,000 at the time they were built and are now worth up to about 15 million. It is amazing that we have preserved these houses and repurposed them into schools, disaster relief like the Red Cross, and even buildings to help children who have domestic problems. 

On one last note, lets not forget the Medina Sandstone that is so very popular in Buffalo. This is the orignal sidewalk on Delaware Avenue....

Classy Houses!!!

In my opinion there is a a difference between a classy house and a house that just screams money. I think classy does not just mean a house, it means a home. The Allentown Historic District is a great example of this I think. Many of the homes there are in my opinion very classy, and have that home feeling to them. They have character and they eahc have their own story, their own history. Here are some examples.....

On the other hand there are houses that scream money. These houses in my opinion are the "cookie cutter" houses. They are usually built by a devlopment company (Marrano is one in the WNY area) at the request of the buyer and have very small difference from house to house. While they are not necessarily for the rich, they are definitely for the middle to upper-middle class. I lived in one through high-school and in my opinion they have no character or history(not to mock my parents house), but it is not my cup of tea. Here are some example of Marrano "cookie cutter" houses....

As you can see they for the most part look very similar with minor aesthetic differences. To me they scream money. I think many people build these houses for their family with the idea it shows they made it. That however is just my opinion.