Linwood Avenue Table of Contents
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Butler House - Table of Contents 2002 photos - Edward Butler House |
TEXT Beneath Illustrations
The wrought iron on the porch is not original |
Note the unusual open-arch chimney and oriel window |
Curved Dutch gable at the center of the front (west) facade |
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One of a pair of dog gargoyles [grotesques] made of heavy tin |
The gargoyle [grotesque] which originally sat on top of the Dutch gable now rests on a chair on a landing |
Window in the front gable |
Terra cotta ornamentation which has designs (strapwork) similar to those in the porte-cochere wood designs |
Another distinctive, beautiful window |
Driveway (north) side foundation |
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Rear and driveway side of the house with porte-cochere roof to the right |
Rear of house foliated terra cotta ornamentation |
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Medina sandstone foundation of the porte-cochere |
Eastlake style using English strapwork design in addition to spindles |
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Eastlake style using English strapwork design in addition to spindles |
Chimney cap ... gargoyle |
The Silsbee-designed Bemis House at 267 North Street. Note the similarities in design to the Linwood house. |
Style |
Queen Anne
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Owners |
This house was built for Edward H. Butler, the founder
and publisher of The Buffalo Evening News. The Butlers are listed in the City of Buffalo Directory as living here 1890-1897, at which time they moved to 522 Delaware. In 1909 their address is 672 Delaware, having purchased the George Williams House on the northwest corner of Delaware and North. There was another owner after the Butlers, and since 1917, the Linwood house has been in the same family. |
Location |
The plot of land the house is built on can be traced to Rumsey
and Butler Families. When it was built in 1885 (1886?), the house was part of the greatest building boom the city had seen. Residences were spreading out from the city's center at a rapid rate. 429 still was an easy walk, for residents much more used to walking, to downtown, and it was conveniently located near Forest Lawn cemetery and Delaware Park, the big green spaces which constituted the northern extent of Buffalo. Horse drawn trolleys were in service for those who did not wish to take their carriages downtown. |
Sources:
- October 2000 Graycliff Conservancy tour of four Silsbee houses
- "Dog on a High-Pitched Roof: The Question of Silsbee in Buffalo," by Austin M. Fox, in Buffalo Spree, Spring 1986
- Summer 1999 Preservation Coalition tour of Linwood Avenue, Tim Tielman, tour guide.
- Research by Christopher Payne and Martin Wachadlo
- "A New Look at an Old Neigborhood: Historic Homes of Bufalo's Linwood Avenue Preservation District 1820-1982," Susan M. Pollack, ed.