Millionaires' Row: Nine Mansions in the Delaware Avenue National Historic District

A Preservation Coalition Tour
of the Mansions of Buffalo's Rich and Famous
in Buffalo NY.

Buffalo was incorporated in 1832. At that time, North Street was the northerly boundary and was called Guideboard Road and led to the Blackrock Ferry. North Street was the northern boundary.

See also
Delaware Avenue Historic District
1974 Nomination for the National Register of Historic Places

In 1868, Buffalo was extended to Ferry Street and the farmland began to give way to development. The development of the area corresponds with a great rise in fortunes in Buffalo in commercial banking and industrial trades ñ Delaware Avenue was perfectly situated removed from the congestion of downtown but with a direct connection to business. Delaware Avenue became the most prestigious street in the city around the turn of the century and thus most of the larger residences that were built in the city are on this street.

The Delaware Avenue National Historic District includes all the properties on the west side of Delaware Avenue from North Street to Bryant Street (two blocks). It is also one of the city's preservation districts.

Descendants of some of the families who occupied Delaware Avenue homes like the nine mansions and others that have given way to small office buildings and high-rise apartments tend to cling to this area, occupying smaller though substantial houses on the side streets of the old Delaware District.

'Millionaires' Row'

Delaware Avenue an example of American "Grand Avenue"

America in the l9th century was a nation on the make, composed of cities on the make, driven by men on the make. These men very consciously set out to leave their mark with grand houses on the grandest street in the city, which they sought collectively to shape as a monument to their city's civility. Buffalo's "grand avenue" was Delaware, and in the national sweepstakes it was perceived by some to be the grandest.

While Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Prairie Avenue in Chicago, Vandeventer Place in St. Louis, and Woodward Avenue in Detroit are now mere memories, an intact section of Delaware Avenue has survived the business and traffic expansion of the mid-20th century to have a largely intact streetscape along Delaware Avenue. A recent book, The Grand American Avenue, 1850-1920 chronicles the rise, fall, and in some cases, survival of these iconic streetscapes.

Our tour attempts to place you on Delaware Avenue early in the 20th century. Imagine you are a newspaper publisher, banker, lumber baron, or capitalist in a town that is in the midst of a 30-year explosion of population and wealth. Conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure are social requirements. There is no such thing as an income tax, no minimum wage, and waves of skilled immigrant craftsmen willing to work for next to nothing. What to spend all your money on?

How about a mansion on The Avenue, an address of national repute? Hang the expense. Then, after you buy it, tear it down. And start building that dream house you've hired nationally renowned architects like H.H. Richardson or McKim, Mead, and White to design. These are the houses you'll see on this tour, Golden Age houses of grand scale and refinement, staggering constructions of cut stone and marble.

Book Tip: Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen. Veblen coined the term "conspicuous consumption." Still a classic after 100 years. The Grand American Avenue, 1850-1920 takes a look at this unique phenomenon.

-- by Tim Tielman, reprinted from the Preservation Coalition "Buffalo Tours 2001" catalog

The Houses:

Part of the tour group in front of Westminster Church. (The tour included buildings other than the nine mansions).




Preservation Coalition tour guide Greg Lodinsky talking about Westminster Church



Medina sandstone side was used for sidewalks all along the Delaware Avenue National Historic District and neighboring streets. The sandstone was shipped from Medina, N.Y., to Buffalo via horse-drawn barges on the Erie Canal .

Related Sites:

Delaware Avenue Historic District
11974 Nomination for the National Register of Historic Places

Page created by Chuck LaChiusa.

Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa. Your comments are appreciated.

The Coalition seeks to disseminate architectural and historical information to the general public from many sources. While we use only reputable sources, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of every item presented as fact.


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