Preservation Award Winner: 35 Lincoln Parkway

The seven year, multi-million dollar, privately funded renovation of the magnificent Esenwein and Johnson designed mansion at 35 Lincoln Parkway, is being honored by Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) at its 2011 Awards Ceremony. The ceremony will be held May 19th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Buffalo. Several award categories have been established by PBN to acknowledge distinguished contributions to the community through preservation activity. Recipients will be recognized in restoration; rehabilitation/adaptive use; stewardship; landscape preservation; neighborhood conservation; preservation service; and education and outreach.

This magnificent house, (and this house truly is magnificent) sits in quiet elegance behind its ornate iron gates on Lincoln Parkway among one of Buffalo's greatest collection of grand houses - most of which still serve their original purpose as family estates.  Preservation architects and conservators were retained for a comprehensive survey and restoration plan prior to starting the project construction. The restoration was extensive, including both the interior and exterior of the main house, the masonry wall and ornamental fence surrounding the property, and the interior and exterior of the coach house (including significant structural repairs).

Many elements of the house were intricately examined, restored and replaced to match original elements to bring the house to essentially new condition. The intricate raised-stone terraced garden with brick walls, ceramic tile, and cast stone balustrades were brought back to original elegance. Extensive stained glass restoration was also performed. Tile roofs on both buildings received significant restoration work with materials matching originals from Batchelder and Mosaic Tile Company. The owners preserved as much of the original material and appearance as possible and followed the Secretary of Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. Historic features were repaired rather than replaced when possible, and appropriate materials were used for replacing features when repair was not possible.  This project is second only to the Martin house in residential preservation scale in cost, thoroughness, and accuracy of detail and is Buffalo's most extensive privately funded residential restoration.

The Renaissance Revival style house was commissioned by oil millionaire Thomas J. McKinney for his home in 1926, costing a whopping $800,000 for construction and another $200,000 in furnishings. The house was extensively decorated with custom heavily-carved woodwork, stained-glass windows, carpets, tile, and masonry. The original sod was reported to have been imported from a Belgian Chateau. Pennsylvania Iron Works fabricated the wrought and cast iron fencing and gates.

Only four years after completing his Buffalo estate Mr. McKinney and his wife were killed in an automobile accident near Orlando Florida. The house was then sold to Kirke R. Wilson in 1934 for $110,000 for his second wife but they never moved in and the house sat empty until the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo purchased it after Wilson's death in 1949 for $35,000. Although the Diocese did not significantly alter the interior of the house, they did remove significant exterior historic features they considered too pagan in motif. Significant ornamental elements were sandblasted and chiseled off and stained glass windows were removed. Several free-standing statues were sold. The Diocese owned the property until 1985 when it was purchased by antique dealer Jeffery Thayer in 1985. Clem and Karen Arrison purchased the property in 2001 and began an extensive historic restoration of the property in 2004.

The restrained Mediterranean Renaissance styling of the house's exterior belies the extravagance of its interior.  It is hard to describe the amazing carved main stair which is one of the first things visitors are greeted with as they enter the house.  The house is large but, none the less feels very intimate and comfortable.  This is no cold and barren castle.  Here is a piece that I wrote on the house in 2006 near the start of this renovation project.  That story was illustrated with a slide show composed of several interior images from a 1930s publication called Beautiful Homes of Buffalo. Unfortunately the slide show link is no longer functional.  I have included a few of those views here.  You can also see much more of the house at the website Buffalo as an Architectural Museum (here) where you will find an extensive collection of photos of both interior and exterior spaces over several periods. This house was never in much danger but this major preservation project is a major win for Buffalo.  Thank you PBN for celebrating it.