In the Key of Green
By Alexandra Harvey
There is something about the Spencer Kellogg Jr. house at 128 Lincoln Parkway that commands attention. Perhaps it is the formal “English Manor” effect of the approach—a protracted lawn leading to a grand Tudor entrance. Perhaps it is the imposing horizontal masonwork with Romanesque detailing.
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The façade is masculine with its heavy horizontal bands of pale Onandaga limestone (reminiscent of the University at Buffalo's Hayes Hall) emanating power and grandeur.
Photo by Jim Bush. |
“We bought this house because it looks like a castle,” say current owners Kurt and Sandy Lang. Clearly not the only ones who think so, ten years ago the Langs were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a full-sized photograph of their front door proudly gracing the cover of the Lifestyles Section of the Buffalo News. The Tudor arched oak door had received top billing as one of the most distinctive portals in the city.
Years later the Lang’s Onondaga limestone castle still draws unexpected visitors, from bridal parties having their picture taken on the lawn in front of the Romanesque arched wall, to architecture students studying the symmetry and style of Green and Wicks’ creation.
Completed in 1912, the house was originally commissioned by Spencer Kellogg Jr., son of wealthy linseed oilman and philanthropist Spencer Kellogg Sr., and Vice President of the Spencer Kellogg Company. The company’s plant in Buffalo was the largest individual linseed oil mill in the world and quickly amassed a fortune. As one of the most affluent men in Buffalo, Spencer Kellogg Jr.’s position in the family company was more symbolic than anything else, and he spent most of his time dabbling in the art world with some success.
As a young man, Kellogg studied at the Art Students League in New York and then at the Buffalo School of Fine Arts. He served as director of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was president of the Guild of Allied Arts for a short time.
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Original details carry through to the main hall, with its curvilinear ceiling and thistle motif in plaster, painted sage green.
Photo by Jim Bush. |
High style architects for high status clients
With a client list that read like a who’s who directory of Buffalo high society, and an unparalleled reputation for sparing no expense on detail and craftsmanship, E.B. Green drew on his architectural training in the Classical and Tudor Revival styles. A firm believer in the power of history, Green—working with his partner Sidney Wicks, a graduate from M.I.T and Cornell—adapted and perfected classic architecture to meet the needs of his clients. Green often combined different architectural elements in one structure, most commonly Renaissance, Romanesque, and Tudor Revival styles.
The commission to build the Spencer Kellogg Jr. house was one of over 160 private and public buildings that Green and Wicks designed in Buffalo. With a shrewd understanding of their clients’ desires, the firm of Green and Wicks built homes to fit the social and economic stature of the men that lived in them. 128 Lincoln Parkway is no exception.
Taking its cue from the Romanesque Revival and Richardson Romanesque styles of architecture and English Tudor—as evidenced in the archway surrounding the front door—the structure is a model of symmetry, balance, and order. The façade is masculine with its heavy horizontal bands of pale Onondaga limestone (reminiscent of the University at Buffalo’s Hayes Hall) emanating of power and grandeur. Set back from the road on a park-like expanse of green, the front of the house is uncluttered by ornamentation. Instead, emphasis is on the central front entrance, set off by an even arrangement of windows and framed once by a low, decorative arched wall close to the house, and again by a second dense stone wall marking the boundary of the lot.
These are elements strongly suggestive of the Romanesque revival and Richardson Romanesque periods.
Original plans for the house date back to 1911 and include a detailed cost list for materials and suppliers. Though the figures are only estimates, Green and Wicks came up with a cost of $11.50 per square foot, for a total of 3,312 square feet, arriving at a grand sum of $38,088, about $750,000 today. Local purveyors of services include the Danforth Company, which provided heating for an estimated $2,618; B.I. Crooker who executed the mason work for $13,326—the highest expenditure on the list; and the Jewett Refrigerator Company, which sold the owners their brand new refrigerator for the lavish sum of $175.
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The studio was the largest room on the first floor with a high vaulted ceiling that extended to a second floor balcony. Originally used for entertaining, it was flanked on either side by twin organ rooms and was probably used for musical performances—today it would be called a “great room.” One of its most distinctive features is a turret-like rounded alcove of windows and stone, used to house the grand piano. Other areas and details of significance include the dining room with paneling throughout, ten chambers or bedrooms, five bathrooms with early twentieth century marble showers and fixtures, and six fireplaces.
An emphasis on details
One of the most striking features of the home’s interior is the quality and craftsmanship of the original woodwork and decorative molding, as pristine today as it was in 1912 the year the house was completed. Designed by carpenters William Henrich and Sons at an estimated cost of over $11,000 in 1911 ($200,000 today). This is a perfect instance of E.B. Green’s reputation for detail at any cost.
The dining room offers outstanding use of wood in the seamless floor to ceiling oak-paneled walls, radiating a rich honey glow. Dentils define the perimeter of the room, elegantly decorating the space where walls and ceiling meet.
This formal eating area contains one of the six fireplaces in the home and is furnished with a substantial Sheridan table ca. 1830s constructed of exquisite tiger maple, (its name derived from the rare and distinct grain resembling a tiger stripe).
The room’s lighting scheme, provided by a central crystal chandelier and matching wall sconces, is original to the home. The chandelier is decorated with hanging crystal etched into a delicate flower shape resembling a star with eight arms or petals. Wall sconces capped with mother of pearl shades repeat this stylized floral motif in miniature.
Original details carry through to the main hall, with its curvilinear ceiling and thistle motif in plaster, painted sage green. The ornamental ceiling and wooden pilasters are painted off-white to create an impressive receiving area for guests with a view of the staircase, with intricate iron railing. The grand hall is furnished with generously proportioned antiques. The 1740 Queen Anne bureau is a particular favorite of the Langs, who have managed to incorporate their own style by decorating with eighteenth and nineteenth century antiques.
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The studio is the largest room on the first floor with a high vaulted ceiling that extends to a second floor balcony.
Photo by Jim Bush. |
Although the studio was meant to be a formal area, Green and Wicks obviously didn’t take themselves too seriously when they designed it, as they placed clandestine symbols throughout the room. The fireplace firebox depicts a nautical image of anchors, and on close inspection it is apparent that the chandelier boasts a ring of sea horses surrounding the figure of a man, perhaps an early pilgrim or explorer. The Langs have carried on the early Americana motif, adding a late nineteenth century golden bald eagle clutching a “Live And Let Live” banner above the fireplace.
One would be hard pressed to replicate this Green and Wicks limestone castle overlooking Olmsted’s Delaware Park today.
“I don’t think you could build a house like this today because of the cost. I don’t think you could get the same quality of work,” says Mrs. Lang, admiring the details of her home. That’s the beauty of 128 Lincoln Parkway. It is part of the legacy of Buffalo’s rapid and short-lived economic boom. Impossible to replicate, it can still be admired.
The writer would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Lang for their warmth and hospitality.
Alexandra Harvey has a Master’s degree in journalism from New York University and specializes in writing about architecture and design.
Sources for this article include: Chuck La Chiusa and the Buffalo Preservation Coalition: www.preservationcoalition.org; A Concise History of American Architecture: Leland M. Roth, 1979, Westview Press; Identifying American Architecture: John J.-G. Blumenson, 1977, W.W. Norton and Company; The Greening of Buffalo: How architect E.B. Green Shaped the Profile of the City: Austin Fox; The Historical Society of Buffalo and Erie County; The Erie County Downtown Library Special Collections; archives of The Buffalo News, Buffalo Times, and the Courier Express.
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