Demolishing Polonia: It is only a matter of time

[nggallery id=169](click on images for full view)

This factory complex (the old Lumen Bearing Company) located at Sycamore and Lathrop will most likely never be saved.  Frankly, it is past the point of saving.

In the images above, you see what the complex looked like a about 90 years ago and you will see what it looks like now.

There are a lot of buildings around the neighborhood that are slowly but surely fading away…fading past the point of no return.

It literally is just a matter of time before they are demolished and disappear completely.

When I see buildings like this, I wonder how they were set on this path.  I also wonder how we can prevent other buildings from meeting the same fate.

***UPDATE***

I love the building at the front of the old picture of the complex.  All the windows, etc…must have been something to look at back in the day.

 


Related Posts

11 thoughts on “Demolishing Polonia: It is only a matter of time

  1. I only remember that building being the Potts Furniture Store …. but it sure was a beautiful complex at one point in time ….

  2. I lived right across the street from Lumen Bearing. My parents would always tell me how busy it was in the day. The building was then sold to Potts Furniture. At Christmas Mr. Potts would have all different beautiful Christmas trees in each window at the front of the complex. It was a sight to be seen.

  3. Why was this allowed to happen. Who has been guiding b/f for the last 25 years. It’s time for a new leadership, sorry Dave it’s time for you & your crew to leave.

  4. It is frustrating the lack of movement forward programs and proposals. It would be great if we could identify one Bork house, figure out if it is structurally sound; how much would it take to rehab, make it a model for how to salvage our historic heritage. Maybe have to move it; other cities do this all the time.

    Other possibilities use B/F to let a potential homeowner/investor know about a house that potentially could be rehabbed, be it city owner or privately owned, follow the Rochester model for a homesteading program for B/F. aggressively recruit. But do not post an address given the scavenging going on in the neighborhood.

  5. It is with great interest that I have stumbled accross this website and images of the Lumen Bearing foundry. My grandfather Joseph Jacob Mayer was Vice President of Lumen Bearing and I am currently doing some research into his career at the foundry. He started at LB in 1909 at the age of 14 as an office boy and worked his way up. It is possible that his father who I know was a foundy labourer was formerly an emplyee too. He met his wife Mary Lichtenthal there, she was an office clerk, just after WWI. I have in my posession the original papers of liquidation of the company in 1963 and many photos of office staff and taken outside the building around WWI and office parties or dinners later around the late 40’s or early 50’s.

    Thank you for posting the images of the building.
    All very best regards,
    Katherine Mayer, Williamsville N.Y.

Leave a Reply to Greg W. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.