Knox House / CTG Building - LINKS ..... Knox Family - LINKS

ILLUSTRATED HISTORY - Grace Millard Knox House / Computer Task Group Building
800 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y.
Computer Task Group - Official Home Page

Below:  Illustrated history     ...    Knox Mausoleum    ...   Computer Task Group



Construction:

Construction on this building began in 1915 and was completed three years later at a cost of $600,000

The property extended west to Richmond Ave.

The original house included 25 rooms, excluding kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, maintenance quarters, and cloakrooms.

Architect:

Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert, prominent architect of many houses on New York City's Fifth Avenue

Owners:

Mrs. Grace Millard Knox, widow of Seymour H. Knox (1861-1915)

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.

Knox and his wife had been living at 1035 Delaware when Knox died in 1915..Mrs. Knox was about 54.

According to Architectural Historian Francis R. Kowsky,

In 1915, the widow of Seymour H. Knox announced that she would build a residence costing one million dollars on property she had purchased on Delaware Avenue north of Summer Street. The new house in the French Baroque style was designed by New York City architect Charles Pierrepont H. Gilbert and replaced an older Italianate house that stood on the property.

Mrs. Knox had decided to build her home next to the rambling stone mansion at 786 Delaware that Edward B. Green had designed in 1913 for Stephen M. Clement, the president of the Marine National Bank. -- Francis R. Kowsky, "Delaware Avenue," in The Grand American Avenue 1850-1920. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1994

Mrs. Knox, her son Seymour H., Jr., and daughters Marjorie and Dorothy lived in the mansion after Mr. Knox's death.

(
57 Oakland which is directly behind this house: Construction began on the Georgian Revival mansion in 1924, the year after Seymour Jr. had married Helen Northrup. Construction was completed the following year and Seymour and Helen moved into their new home, which was a gift from Seymour's mother [Grace Millard Knox]. The architect was C. P. H. Gilbert of New York City, who had designed the Knox mansion at 800 Delaware Avenue a few years earlier.) 

(Seymour H Knox, Jr.'s, sons, Northrup and Seymour H. III [d. 1996], co-owned the Buffalo Sabres) The last Knoxes to occupy the home were Marjorie Knox Klopp, her husband, and two children

In 1969, The Montefiore Club, a private men's association, purchased the residence to use as its headquarters They hired the architectural firm of Milstein, Whick, Davis and Hamilton to remodel the house into a private club.

The club added athletic facilities to the rear of the building, including a gymnasium, squash courts, and locker room with shower facilities.

By 1978, the club was unable to keep up the expenses needed to maintain the mansion, and the bank foreclosed the mortgage

In 1978 Computer Task Group purchased the Knox mansion from the Montefiore Club for $1.3 million to serve as its new headquarters. CTG petitioned the City to change the number from 806 to 800 Delaware Avenue.

Junior League of Buffalo:
On June 5, 1919, a meeting was held in the home of Mrs. Seymour H. Knox (800 Delaware Avenue) to discuss bringing the Junior League to Buffalo. Sixty-seven women responded to the first roll call with Mrs. Nelson Taylor presiding.
Junior League of Buffalo founded. $50 donated to Children's Hospital for Sewing Supplies.

Illustrated history


On Main Street south of Brisbane Building



Knox store historical plaque    ...    Photo courtesy of Chris Andrle's "Historic Markers,Monuments, and Memorials in Buffalo" (online 2002)



Left:  Seymour H. Knox photo from The Buffalo Commercial One Hundredth Anniversary, 1911   ...     Right: Seymour H. Knox photo on display at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Association Museum



Grace Millard Knox    ...    Source: Knox Family Photos at the Knox Farm State Park




Earlier Knox residence at Plymouth and Porter    ...     Architect: Milton Beebe & Son



 Knox residence at 1035 Delaware Ave. where Seymour died    ...    Mrs. Knox found the house too dark; her next house at 806 Delaware would use French doors for more light



The George Howard House at 806 Delaware that Mrs. Knox razed.    ...    Source: Buffalo's Delaware Avenue: Mansions and Families, by Edward T. Dunn. Pub. by Canisius College Press 2003



Mrs. Grace Millard Knox in 800 Delaware after her husband died in 1915 on the eve of construction    ...    Photo source: Seymour H. Knox House



Mrs. Grace Millard Knox in her 800 Delaware house    ...    Photo source: Seymour H. Knox House




Seymour Knox II, known for the addition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery named after him. The 57 Oakland house was built for him and his new bride.




Oakland Ave. Knox House where Mrs. Knox lived after 1923 is directly behind the 800 Delaware House. At one time the backyards of the two houses were landscaped as one.     ...   
Source: Buffalo, the City Beautiful, Hubbell, Mark H., ed.  Buffalo Truth Publishing Co., 1931    ...    Photo courtesy of Dr. Joseph Bieron




Knox Mausoleum


Knox Mausoleum in Forest Lawn Cemetery                Tetrastyle temple-front style



Doric style:   Triangular pediment    ...    "Knox" on frieze    ...    Doric columns



Doric column and pilaster



Bronze doors





Reprint

Buffalo: Lake City in Niagara Land

By Richard C. Brown and Bob Watson
USA: Windsor Publications, 1981, p. 274








Special thanks to Computer Task Group for their cooperation in 2002

Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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