Conners House / Gilda's Clubhouse - Table of Contents
Conners House / Gilda's
Clubhouse
1140 Delaware Avenue (Corner of Delaware and West Ferry)
Buffalo, NY
14209
Erected: |
C. 1908 |
First owner: |
William J. "Fingy" Conners, Sr. |
1951 owner: |
Irving Rosen |
2005 owner: |
Gilda's Club of Western New York |
Style: |
Eclectic |
Exterior : |
Marble |
Architect: |
Unknown |
William J. Conners |
North elevation (West Ferry St.) |
Main entrance on West Ferry St. |
Gilda's Club symbolic red door |
Brackets supporting widely overhanging eaves (a typical Arts & Crafts feature) |
Dormer with widely overhanging eaves |
Left: Quarry-faced marble in random ashlar pattern Right: Dressed marble |
East (Delaware Avenue) and north (West Ferry
St.) elevations. |
North (West Ferry St.) and west elevations. |
East (Delaware Avenue) and north (West Ferry St.) elevations |
||
East (Delaware Avenue) elevation. |
East (Delaware Avenue) elevation |
800 West Ferry condos ... Canisius High School athletic field |
|
Southeast corner of Delaware and West Ferry |
1978 photo of carriage house shortly before demolition |
Square Footage: 12,000 square feet with 129 feet of frontage on Delaware Avenue and 200 feet on West Ferry
Features: The four-story, 20-room house originally included:
History:
The house was originally built for Thomas C. Meadows, general manager of Buffalo Fertilizer Company.
Before its completion in 1908, Mr. Meadows sold the home to William J. "Fingy" Conners Sr., then publisher of the Buffalo Courier-Express. Conners, who was born in Buffalo in 1857, was thrice married and had six children. At the time of his death in 1929, his son, William J. Conners Jr., was publisher of the Courier-Express.
Three generations of the Conners family occupied the house before it was sold by William J. Conners III in 1951 to Irving Rosen, the 29-year-old president of two scrap metal concerns. Historical Society archives indicate the purchase price was somewhere between $30,000 and the assessed value of $61,000.
Eventually the home was sold and turned into apartments and offices, and was occupied until its purchase by Gilda's Club Western New York in May 2002.
Floor plans and illustration of the clubhouse are available by calling Nancy Cardillo at 833.0408 or emailing
Courtesy of Explore Buffalo