Matthews House

2008 exterior photos - Matthews House
830 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, NY

Completed:
1901

Architect:
Green & Wicks

Style:
Elizabethan Revival (Late Tudor / Early Renaissance)

TEXT Beneath Illustrations

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Elizabethan Revival style			Portico: (Indiana?) limestone banded columns with nail-head motif

Two pairs of guttae			Portico: (Indiana?) limestone banded columns with nail-head motif

Banded columns with nail-head motif	Nail-head	Main entrance	Window flanking main entrance

Lower frieze features guttae	A "nail" decorates the Tuscan capital



Medina sandstone rear house	Rear house

Owners:
George B. Matthews
B. in Allegheny County. Had to forego college because of lack of money. Entered flour milling industry by chance: At the close of the Civil war, he was offered a position in an Elmira flour mill. Among the first to foresee Buffalo's possibilities as a flour milling center, due to its strategic location, Matthews came here in 1870.

The initiative and industry displayed by George as a young man won the respect of Jacob Schoellkopf so much that the latter offered him a partnership in his flour mill. Quick to introduce new improvements, the partners installed one of the first rolling mills in the city.

Mrs. Matthews was Jenny Rebecca Modisette, daughter of a clergyman in Leroy.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Matthews lived until they were 95.

They gave one million dollars to the Buffalo YMCA to be used chiefly to make YMCA facilities available to black men and boys.

In 1942, after George Matthews' death, the property was sold to the Children's Aid Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as a home for children with emotional problems.

Rear Cottage :
In 1880 Scoville commissioned A J Warner for a group of stone buildings on his property on Delaware Ave.; this is probably one of them

The six-room brown stone cottage antedates the house by a number of years. It was the home of a former Buffalo mayor, Jonathan Scoville. In Mr. Scoville's day, the property extended all the way from Delaware to Richmond Ave. In 1880 Scoville commissioned A J Warner for a group of stone buildings on his property on Delaware Ave.; this is probably one of them.

George B. Matthews bought the cottage from him, and he and Mrs. Matthews occupied it for a few years before building the larger house in front of it. The larger house was completed in 1901.

Demolition Attempt:
In the 1970's, IBM attempted to demolish this building and its neighbors at #824 and #844

Completed:	1901
Architect:	Green & Wicks
Style:	Elizabethan Revival (Late Tudor / Early Renaissance)

Owners:	George B. Matthews B. in Allegheny County. Had to forego college because of lack of money. Entered flour milling industry by chance: At the close of the Civil war, he was offered a position in an Elmira flour mill. Among the first to foresee Buffalo's possibilities as a flour milling center, due to its strategic location, Matthews came here in 1870. The initiative and industry displayed by George as a young man won the respect of Jacob Schoellkopf so much that the latter offered him a partnership in his flour mill. Quick to introduce new improvements, the partners installed one of the first rolling mills in the city. Mrs. Matthews was Jenny Rebecca Modisette, daughter of a clergyman in Leroy. Both Mr. and Mrs. Matthews lived until they were 95. They gave one million dollars to the Buffalo YMCA to be used chiefly to make YMCA facilities available to black men and boys. In 1942, after George Matthews' death, the property was sold to the Children's Aid Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children as a home for children with emotional problems.
Rear Cottage :	In 1880 Scoville commissioned A J Warner for a group of stone buildings on his property on Delaware Ave.; this is probably one of them The six-room brown stone cottage antedates the house by a number of years. It was the home of a former Buffalo mayor, Jonathan Scoville. In Mr. Scoville's day, the property extended all the way from Delaware to Richmond Ave. In 1880 Scoville commissioned A J Warner for a group of stone buildings on his property on Delaware Ave.; this is probably one of them. George B. Matthews bought the cottage from him, and he and Mrs. Matthews occupied it for a few years before building the larger house in front of it. The larger house was completed in 1901.
Demolition Attempt:	In the 1970's, IBM attempted to demolish this building and its neighbors at #824 and #844