186 Bidwell Parkway

186 Bidwell Parkway
Buffalo, NY

TEXT beneath the 2015 photos

2015 photos

Colonial Revival

Through-the-cornice dormers ... Note vinyl siding in tympanum

Stone splayed lintel ... Plastic(?) mullions

Not a Classical Greek capital - rather a combination of Doric and Tuscan styles ... Fluted shaft is a typical Classical Greek feature

Voussoirs ... Sunburst pattern in segmental pediment ... Dentil molding ... Plain frieze ... Engaged Tuscan columns ... Leaded side lights

Engaged Tuscan columns ... Leaded side light

Engaged Tuscan columns ... Leaded side light ... Note the reinforcing solder on the came

Flemish bond pattern

Bidwell Parkway

Bidwell Parkway is an excellent example of Olmsted’s Buffalo parks and parkways system, cutting diagonally through the Elmwood Historic District (West) from Richmond Avenue and Colonial Circle through Elmwood Avenue near Potomac Avenue further on to Soldier’s Circle in the north-east.

The street and parkway itself were previously listed on the State and National Registers as a contributing element to the Delaware Park-Front Park system in the Olmsted Parks and Parkways Thematic Resources.

A divided roadway with grassy median, Bidwell Parkway is an excellent example of the type of road-as-park that Olmsted envisioned; linking pre-existing settlement at Black Rock and Cold Spring with ribbons of trees and landscape to Delaware Park.

The entire street measures approximately 200-feet in width, creating a broad roadway. The median is planted with numerous elm trees on a grid layout, helping give this area a shady, forest-like orderly appearance. Streetlights on Bidwell Parkway are cast iron decorative luminares on poles with Art Nouveau flourishes and glass globes.

Houses on Bidwell Parkway date from approximately the 1890s to 1900s, and many feature more high-style examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival styles. The street also contains several apartment buildings, compatibly scaled to the neighboring 2 1⁄2 or 3-story houses.

- Elmwood Historic Preservation District (West)

Additional sources of information on this house found on Buffalo Architecture & History website:

1. Olmsted Park and Parkway System - Table of Contents
Bidwell Parkway is part of the Olmsted and Vaux-designed park system, the first designed park system in the US.

2. Grant-Ferry-Forest Intensive Level Historic Resources Survey
Intensive level surveys are usually professionally researched and published. A wealth of information, among other uses, they can lead to the formation of historic districts. This building is not included in the survey, but valuable information about the neighborhood can be found in the survey.

3. State and Federal Elmwood Historic District (West)
Bidwell Parkway west of Elmwood Avenue is included in the historic district. There are current efforts (May 2015) to create a Elmwood Historic District (East) that would include Bidwell Parkway east of Elmwood Avenue - where this building is located. The main impetus for creating historic districts is for developers and site owners to benefit from tax credits which is a way for society to express the appreciation of history.