Seymour H. Knox House / Blessed Sacrament RC Church Parish Office - LINKS

Exterior - Seymour H. Knox House / Blessed Sacrament RC Church Parish Office
1035 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY

Erected:

1904

Architect:

E. E. Joralemon (of Niagara Falls, NY)

Construction:

James N. Buyers

Style:

Beaux Arts / Italian Renaissance

Status:

Linwood Historic Preservation District

TEXT Beneath Illustrations



Click on illustrations for larger size -- and additional information

1035 Delaware Avenue, the house that Seymour H. Knox built

Left: Cathedral School, received students in 1955 (2005 photo)

Right: Blessed Sacrament Church (2005 photo)

When Bishop Joseph Burke was installed in 1952, he moved the Bishop's residence in this house to the palatial 77 Oakland Place.

Marble portico

Marble portico

Marble:

Marble portico

Marble:

Detail

Marble:

Symbol of Buffalo Roman Catholic Diocese

 

Papal Coat of Arms (two crossed keys below the Papal tiara)

     


Seymour H. Knox (1861-1915) made his fortune in 5 & 10¢ stores;

Knox opened his second store at 519 Main Street, circa 1894. This store was opened on December 18, 1893, four days after his first Buffalo store at 409 Main Street was completely destroyed in the Wonderland Building fire. In 1895 Knox moved his store to 395 Main street.

Knox merged his more than 100 stores with those of his cousin to form the F. W. Woolworth Company.

At his death, he was the vice-president of the Woolworth Co. and Chairman of the Board of the Marine Trust Co.

Mrs. Knox, the former Grace Millard of Detroit, met her husband when he came to Buffalo on a vacation trip with a party of girls. They married in 1890. Mrs. Knox was about 54 when her husband died in 1915.

In 1915, Mrs. Knox began work on 800 Delaware and work was completed in 1918.

1035 Delaware

The original building permit for the home was issued in 1903 after Knox decided to move his family from 467 Linwood Avenue (PHOTO).

Construction was completed in 1904 by James N. Buyers, but the architect is unknown. The house contains 27 rooms and 12 fireplaces. There are 5 floors in the house, totaling 12,500 square feet.

The Knox family lived in the classic example of Italian Renaissance architecture until 1918. (The Knoxes' next house was built by the widowed Mrs. Knox at 806 Delaware Avenue, although the number now is 800, changed when the Computer Task Group bought the house.)

In 1918 Mrs. Knox rented the house to William H. Donner, the steel king, who with his family was there when the federal census taker came around in 1920.

The house remained the Knox family's property until 1922, when it was purchased by the Diocese of Buffalo for the residence of Bishop William Turner and it remained the house for bishops until 1953 when St. Joseph's Cathedral Parish acquired the house to serve as a residence for the Sisters of St. Joseph who operated St. Joseph's Cathedral School (on Atlantic Avenue (PHOTO) and in 1956 on Delaware Avenue, one building north of #1035). It was used for this purpose until 1981, when Richard E. Gilbert bought it to house his investment company.

The Singer Advertising and Marketing Co. used the house for its headquarters beginning in 1982.

The house was subsequently purchased from Carl Palladino by the diocese to be used as the residence for the clergy at the Blessed Sacrament Church.

Sources:


See also: Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, NY


Color photos and their arrangement © 2005 Chuck LaChiusa
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