My Favorite Buildings: Spider Webs
On a street of spectacular houses, this one at 405 Linwood Avenue is a standout with distinctive form and unusual detailing. The house was designed by James Marling of Sillsbee Marking Architects in 1886 for William Taylor in the Shingle Style - a style much favored on this street as it was built out. This beauty must have caught my eye when I was very young. As a kid I would spend hours drawing intricate building elevations many of which had a strong resemblance to this house. The restrained elegance and subtle detailing with a composition of taught interlocking volumes makes this one of Buffalo's real underrated treasures. The architectural composition changes dramatically from side to side. Comparing the south and east elevations you could easily think you are viewing 2 different buildings.
I have always loved the porte-cochere that cuts through a section of the house with living space above. This feature can be found on only a few houses in Buffalo, including very nice examples in Allentown and on Oakland Place. Often, the porch adjacent to the porte-cochere will have a very high step on the driveway side. This was meant to be used for guests stepping off their carriage (which were quite high) onto the porch. I believe that this one has such a detail. The most unusual detail on the house is the large round attic window with muntins (dividers between glass panes) forming a spider web pattern. I have seen spider web patterns in antique furniture designs but I can't think of any other such detail in architecture. Do you think that the architects were having a bit of fun locating this window spider web at the place in the house most likely to have real spider webs?
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hodgepodge
linwood has so many jewels and i find something new and interesting to look at every time i walk down that street (which is every day) now, if only the traffic could & would slow down between utica and west ferry -- it's a bleeding highway!!
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Biniszkiewicz
Steel, love your posts. Always insightful.
Hodgepodge: Agree on traffic (I admit using Linwood as a highway myself; it's quick because it features two lanes going only one way and because the traffic lights are timed to allow quick vehicular movement). The way to slow things down would be to restore two way traffic--this would shift the quicker flowing traffic to wider arterioles such as Main and Delaware. But residents in the area I've spoken with don't seem to like the idea of two way traffic much. Too bad. It could go a long way toward making the street feel more residential.
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benfranklin
I saw a drawing that depicted proposed changes where Franklin meets Linwood. I thought it had traffic going in the other direction between Linwood and Allen. Does anyone know if this plan was shelved, or is it still in the works? As for Linwood itself, two thumbs up.
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STEEL
I agree. There is no reason to have Linwood as a 1 way street. The city also needs to replace the double row of trees (each side) that used to exist and still does on some segments.
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crc
I love this street. My wife and I had our first apartment on it.
It's too bad that many of these houses have either been chopped up into apartments, or lost much of their interior beauty because they have been transitioned to office space.
By far my favorite street in the city.
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Freesoil
This house is just a few down from mine and it is by far one of my favorites. I am interested to know whether the Linwood Avenue Association is still in existence? If so, how do I go about joining. I love this street and the historic neighborhood including across Main street with all those lovely beautiful houses just crying out for redevelopment. I remember the Association creating an uproar over the controversial Delta Sonic expansion a couple years back. Other than that I haven't heard much of anything from them. You'd think with all the new developments and excitement around the neighborhood they'd be voicing concerns or opinions on certain developments such as Artspace, Millard Fillmore Gates Redevelopment, not to mention neighborhood resident concerns.
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MJWorthington
These houses just blow my mind.
In today's society with expensives houses just being bigger versions of smaller ones (just more drywall and vinyl - maybe a stone feature on the front/one brick facade) a building like this with so much detailing and craftsmanship is a wonder to behold. If only I had the $$$$ to live in a place like this.
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leadi
The spider web window pattern seems to be throughout the buildings int he Del. District.I notice them above doorways to some of the larger buildings a lot. I absolutely love, love, love the spider web windows! I swear the next house I buy will have that feature.
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RisingDamp666
This baby is so Newport, but there's a Victorian riot going on here. I love that the owners have retained that dark, period hue and that window is spectacular. Linwood's vulnerable because of all the uses. Nobody thinks single family home in districts like this anymore and that's a shame: how many more law offices and Bed and Breakfasts do you need?
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sbrof
I always loved these buildings as well. just a beautiful collection of structures that with the proper infrastructure (both road and green) could really be one of the most beautiful places in the city.
Maybe if you can't convert the street you could jsut narrow it a little bit. it has pretty wide lanes with parking lanes Maybe we could put in some bike lanes, nice crosswalks, and squeeze it down a bit to bring the street together.
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wizardofza
I'll take law offices and bed n' breakfasts over rooming houses and slummy apartments any day of the week. In a weak economy city, unglamorous office and other nontraditional uses prove to be a sound way of preserving grand old houses that are no longer sought out by upper middle class families. This is a much better way of "mothballing" these works of fine architecture.
When a better economy comes around, these sort of houses would likely become fancy condos. We than thank the current office uses as unintentional preservationists.
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STEEL
As a matter of fact several of these houses have been renovated back to single family or at most 2 family residences. Some of the renovations have been quite spectacular. I believe that the one directly north of this one was renovated. The owner actually had a stone mason come in to cut new stone and rebuild the porch to match the original.
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RisingDamp666
By "single family", I really meant tony gay couples. Sorry for the misunderstanding, Wizardofza.
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Dan
MJWorthington> In today's society with expensives houses just being bigger versions of smaller ones (just more drywall and vinyl - maybe a stone feature on the front/one brick facade) a building like this with so much detailing and craftsmanship is a wonder to behold. If only I had the $$$$ to live in a place like this.
We could still build houses like this ... if we could find craftsmen and laborers that would work for the inflation-adjusted wage in effect when these houses were first built. I don't think you'll find too many master carpenters and masons who are willing to work for $2 or $3 an hour. The construction labor economy of Buffalo in the late 1890s and early 1900s wasn't too much different than Dubai today; skilled immigrants working long hours under less-than-safe conditions for paltry salaries.
It's not that "they build 'em cheap now because people don't care" , it's "they build 'em cheap now because to build them like they used to would be overwhelmingly cost-prohibitive, even for some neurosurgeon in East Amherst."
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RisingDamp666
When you think about it, Buffalo could give stonemasons an eternity's worth of business. Imagine that curriculum at ECC.
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Dan
RisingDamp666> Nobody thinks single family home in districts like this anymore and that's a shame: how many more law offices and Bed and Breakfasts do you need?
Also, for every house converted into an office in Allentown or the Delaware District, it's one less dwelling unit for a prospective household that wants to live in a vibrant city neighborhood, and one less tenant for a downtown office building.
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TheWhyNotGuy
Marling's boss Sillsbee is one of my favorite architects. He did the amazing Syracuse Savings Bank (google it) and several of the homes on Linwood Avenue and North Street. A great talent.
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RaChaCha
Steel, your question about the spider-web windows is interesting - the only other case I recall seeing of the spider web motif used in window leading is in a mausoleum in My Fair City's large Victorian cemetery, Mt. Hope (producing quite a creepy effect, as you can imagine). If & when I can find out the date - to see if it's close to 1886 - I'll let you know. Perhaps the motif was somewhat in vogue around that time.
I really enjoyed seeing this house. I'm sure you know that H. H. Richardson, an architect with important Buffalo connections, is credited with developing the shingle style (for example, with his Sherman House in Newport). For shingle fans, Chuck LaChiusa has a page devoted to the style: http://www4.bfn.org/bah/a/archsty/shing/index.html including some other examples on Linwood - he might be interested in adding your photos, as well.
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wizardofza
Dan, I have a feeling that a lot of the converted house office tenants in AT and the DD don't really want to be downtown in the first place. They want the social/altruistic value of being in the city yet would also like having convenient parking/car access for employees, customers (often patients for medical offices) and visitors....basically the same yearning for convenience that drives the huge preference for suburban office space.
We can't legislate business and organizations into dense downtown settings. Unfortunately, Downtown Buffalo is a tough sell to anything that's not a government agency, social service, or big law firm. The car culture is so deeply ingrained in WNY. Even much of the city's middle and upper class lives what's essentially a suburban lifestyle clad in a historic wardrobe.
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nonono
Dan,
"Also, for every house converted into an office in Allentown or the Delaware District, it's one less dwelling unit for a prospective household that wants to live in a vibrant city neighborhood, and one less tenant for a downtown office building. "
great observation, quintessential buffalo, move the offices to the residential neighborhoods and the residents to the commercial district........now thats what i call growth and progress!
this illusion of 'downtown' living is such an artificial nonsense.....the Elk Street Terminals are what, 8 minutes from Hertel Avenue?????? Buffalo city limits is ALL downtown living you mindless sheep.
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pgf1948
One possible way to revive magnificent streets like Linwood: get out of your cars Buffalonians and walk. On my last visit to Linwood taking pictures, during the course of two hours, aside from an older woman who had lived on Linwood all her life, no pedestrians were to be seen the entire length of the street. That's typical of most of Buffalo.
It's a creepy feeling to be in a city and only see people wizzing by in cars as if in a suburb. Every time we consider moving to Buffalo, I am reminded of how car-centric it is, and I shudder.
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