Buffalo skyline from waterfront
— — a working harbour with a skyline behind it.
Not only on a wall.
“The view from Canalside, where the Erie Canal once terminated at the head of the Buffalo River, looking east at the downtown towers. Buffalo City Hall's Art Deco crown is the tallest figure on the line; Liberty Building, the Electric Tower, and Seneca One stand alongside. Grain elevators sit south along the river. In summer the waterfront fills with boats and concerts; in winter the lake wind clears the air and the towers stand sharp. — from the studio
Buffalo skyline from waterfront, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Buffalo sits at the eastern end of Lake Erie, where the lake drains into the Niagara River and the Buffalo River meets the harbour. The downtown waterfront — anchored by Canalside, the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, and the outer harbour — looks east at the city's compact skyline. The view is defined by Buffalo City Hall (378 feet, 1931), Seneca One (529 feet, completed 1972 as Marine Midland Center), the Liberty Building, and the Electric Tower. The site was the western terminus of the Erie Canal from 1825 until rail and the St. Lawrence Seaway eclipsed it.
The harbour reads as three layers: the Buffalo River channel along the south, the inner harbour basin at Canalside where the Erie Canal terminated, and Lake Erie opening west toward the horizon. South of the river, the surviving grain elevators along the Buffalo River — Concrete-Central, Marine A, and others — are a cluster of early-20th-century industrial structures now interpreted as Silo City. The lake side is cleared by westerly wind for much of the year, which is why the skyline reads sharp from the waterfront on cold clear afternoons.
Canalside is open year-round and free. In summer it hosts free concerts, paddle boats on the historic canal slips, and a Thursday-evening series. In winter the basin freezes for ice skating, ice bikes, and curling, with skate rental on site. The waterfront is reached by the Metro Rail's Erie Canal Harbor terminus at the end of the Main Street line, or by a short walk south from downtown. The KeyBank Center sits immediately north, and the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park is a few minutes' walk further on.