The Preservation Board will be considering landmarking an at-risk cottage at 1274 West Avenue. Property owner Neva Siggins LLC is seeking to demolish the circa-1880 residence. Preservation Buffalo Niagara has submitted an application to designate the property a landmark.
From the Application:
The Cutting Family Cottage at 1274 West Avenue. built c. 1876, is a one-and-one-half-story front-gabled frame workers’ cottage with Italianate style detailing. Built for engraver Henry Cutting. it housed multiple other working-class families before the construction of the industrial building on the rear of the lot c. 1920. and after this development continued to be used as housing. It retains a high level of integrity as to its original details and is a rare example of an Italianate style worker’s cottage on Buffalo’s West Side. The tax parcel also includes a non-contributing one-story concrete building in the rear of the lot.
Providing this significance, 1274 West Avenue is eligible for local landmarking as provided in the Buffalo City Charter, Section 337-15 Criteria for Designation. under Criteria 1. 3, 5. and 7:
- Criterion 1: It has character, interest or value as part of the development. heritage, or cultural characteristics of the City, state. or nation. The Cutting Family Cottage at 1274 West Avenue is a fine example of a late 19th century workers’ cottage. exemplary of the type of housing that was built for the working class during this era of growth and prosperity in Buffalo.
- Criterion 3: It exemplifies the historic, aesthetic, architectural, archaeological, educational. economic, or cultural heritage of the City, state, or nation. As a vernacular frame workers’ cottage. 1274 West Avenue is a rare surviving example of this once-common housing type that retains its original Italianate style details.
- Criterion 5: It embodies the distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style valuable for the study of a period, type, method of construction, or use of indigenous materials. The Cutting Family Cottage at 1274 West Avenue is a fine example of a late 19th century workers’ cottage embellished with Italianate style detailing. Rare for a cottage of this type in Buffalo. it retains a high level of integrity with its original arched windows. clapboard siding, entrance with sidelights and transom, and dentiled molding.
- Criterion 7: It embodies elements of design, detailing, materials or craftsmanship that render it architecturally significant. The Cutting Family Cottage at 1274 West Avenue is a fine example of a late 19th century workers’ cottage embellished with Italianate style detailing. Of the 1,380 buildings deemed potentially National Register-eligible for their architecture in the City of Buffalo’s 2006 Grant-Ferry-Forest Intensive Level Historic Resources Survey, 1274 West is one of only 22 workers’ cottages, and is the only one of these that retains its original arched windows and entrance elaborated with sidelights and transom.
History
The Cutting Family Cottage at 1274 West Avenue was likely constructed c. 1876 by Harvey T. Cutting as a home for his son. Henry. Harvey. who lived nearby on Forest Avenue, purchased the land from Mary B. Loring in 1876. At this time West Avenue was named North Washington Street. and the block on which 1274 West Avenue now stands was the 400 block of N. Washington. The street was renamed in December 1879 and renumbered shortly thereafter.
The 1876 and 1878 city directories list Henry Cutting, Harvey’s oldest son. at 450 N. Washington Street, the address corresponding to what is now 1274 West Avenue. Following his father’s death in 1878. Henry, who worked as an engraver for the Courier Company, moved downtown. The house was then rented by a series of families whose patriarchs held blue collar jobs including foremans, engineers, and a blacksmith.
In 1882 Henry sold the property to Isaac Morris, a telephone operator. Morris in turn sold it in 1884 to Orson A. Mosher, who initially rented it to molder Patrick Burke. Around 1890 Orson moved into the building himself along with his wife, Catherine, and son, Walter. Over the years Orson worked in a number of professions including as an agent for Fleishman & Co., a shipping clerk, and a foreman at the city water works. As an adult, Walter continued to live at the house with his parents while working as a chemist at the Larkin Co.7 In 1894, Orson had the building raised up and a porch constructed. After this. Sanborn maps note it as a one-and-one-half-story building, rather than the previous one story.
In 1916 Orson and Catherine sold the building to Fred W. Cornish, who had a building described as a “brick paint shop” constructed at the rear of the lot. In 1920 the site became home to Ace Automobile Spring Works, which operated there into the 1940s. The house continued to be used as a dwelling during this period.
The industrial building at the rear of the lot was expanded with multiple additions over the years. bringing it to its current configuration. At some point after 1950. the property immediately to the north, which previously had the address 1278 West Avenue, was incorporated into the same parcel as no. 1274. In January 2018. 1274West Avenue was purchased by Neva Siggins LLC. Later that year the owner demolished the building previously known as 1278 West Avenue.
Architecture
The City of Buffalo’s Grant-Ferry-Forest Intensive Level Historic Resources Survey, published in 2006, included the Cutting Family Cottage. with the Inventory Form describing it as follows:
A one-story, cross gabled. vernacular workers’ cottage with detailing of a modest Italianate style. It has slight elled plan and is set on a concrete foundation. The main entrance with arched enframement, sidelights, and transom is located in the north bay of the facade. Two arched windows with moderate framing and shuttering occupy the remainder of the facade. A small arched window with similar framing and shuttering punctuates the gable peak.
Exterior wall fabric is clapboard. Fenestration is one-over-one double-hung wood sash. two-over-one single hung wood sash, and fixed. Minor detailing includes modest corner boards. trim. and raked molding with subtle dentils.
The survey deemed the property National Register-eligible (NRE) under criterion C (architecture) and summarizes its significance thusly:
The building at 1274 West Avenue is significant as a good representative example of a one-story, cross gabled, vernacular workers’ cottage with detailing of a modest Italianate style. Such simple folk structures embellished with modest detailing of the prevailing architectural style were a practical alternative to the more high-styled homes of the time. A design common amongst single-family residences of more modest means, though less frequent in this neighborhood in which urban doubles and singles of Queen Anne style abound.
With the exception of the shutters having been removed, the building retains its integrity as described in the survey. Furthermore, out of the approximately 1,380 buildings deemed by the survey to be potentially NRE. only 22 are workers’ cottages, and of these 22, 1274 West Avenue is unique in retaining its original Italianate style arched windows and entrance with transom and sidelights. While cottages of this style were once common in Buffalo, most have been demolished or significantly altered. This makes the Cutting Family Cottage a rare and significant remaining example of this housing type.