A defunct slide projector in an empty office and peeling paint in the employee canteen are among the few signs of the role that an industrial site in Buffalo once played in the rise and then fall of American manufacturing.
The campus was first built in 1923 for General Motors. A faded poster that reads “diversify, profitably grow and become global” dates from when it was later owned by American Axle & Manufacturing. The car part maker followed its own advice, shifting some production to Asia and later shutting its huge factory in the East Side area of the city in 2008.
A site that once employed thousands of people in one of the country’s most deprived communities became a symbol of deindustrialisation and rustbelt decay.