Buffalo Spree Magazine

One sweet Tudor on Tudor

By Barry A. Muskat
Photography by KC Kratt

This charming brick house at the corner of Tudor Place and Cleveland Avenue has long been one of my very favorites in Buffalo. This is a house that epitomizes the working definition of perfection in curb appeal; it was a special treat to finally see the inside and to meet the current owners who are meticulously restoring their home’s exterior and interior.

The house was designed by architect Louis Greenstein. Trivia buffs might want to know that it was Greenstein who, early in his career, designed the City of Buffalo flag, winning a $250 prize in 1924. He also designed the Erie County seal still in use today, a design for which he won $100 in 1925. Some of his built works include Columbus Hospital, the Lutheran Home on East Delavan, the Bryant & Stratton School (now Tapestry Charter), and Temple Shaarey Zedek on Starin Avenue. His office was located in the Prudential Building.

The living room features expansive
windows and intricately carved woodwork.

It is clear that Greenstein’s architectural plans for the home he designed for himself, his wife Shinah, and her brother, Dr. Abraham Aaron, were created with love and with unsparing attention to every detail. Enamored with its history, the home’s current owners—Mark Sebastian and David Hall—have researched the property and its original owners and are intent on restoring the property as the original occupants might have intended. The house may not be as grand as some on its street, but the rich exterior detailing and materials make it remarkable. Built in a style described by some as Peasant Tudor, the house has many features of grander structures and may even have used some remnant building materials from large mansions. A brick chimney runs up the façade, and all four elevations feature special elements and detailing with unusually intricate brickwork.

The lot is framed along its north border by the brick wall from the original Albright estate. (Neighborhood walkers know that it matches the wall on West Ferry, delineating the enormous perimeter of the original estate.) That wall with its camel-back top was intact, but the owners rebuilt a stacked-stone wall on Tudor Place and a brick wall in their rear courtyard. The three-car, slate-roofed garage is original and faces Cleveland Avenue.

The dining room is accentuated by knotty pine trim and floors.

The interior’s asymmetrical plan reveals a series of unique rooms. Step down to a living room that is generous, bright, and gracious, flanked with expansive windows and intricately carved woodwork. A handsome fireplace warms the scene.

The dining room is a gem, feeling perhaps like a small English pub as opposed to a formal space. Knotty pine trim, floors, and wooden-beamed ceiling form a cozy envelope. A door to the patio has matching leaded glass windows, a design that is carried through on the storm/screen door. Attention to detail never ceases: the French doors that open to this room from the main hall are custom-glazed and faced in different woods showing oak to the lobby and pine to the dining room.

In fact, every door in the house is custom-crafted, from the elaborate entry door with its recessed panels and carved center panel with linenfold design to all the doors within. Some bedroom doors have mitered corners to accommodate dormer-shaped rooflines. Each is unique and suited to its place.

The windows could be a study in themselves. The first floor has custom-made leaded glass casements. Each is made with wide lead cames, divided into clear glass panes with occasional splashes of amber panes. They allow light to flow and patterns to glow. Though consistent in patterning and rhythm, each window has its own custom design, all asymmetrical, with designs carefully punctuated. To make them appear more rustic, some have extra angular pieces of lead to simulate an occasional crack in the glass. These windows definitely tell stories about the original owners, their hobbies, and personalities. Easiest to interpret is the window that has a medical caduceus design (representing Aaron) and an architect’s square and tools (representing Greenstein). Others feature books, grapes, and wines, and an assortment of motifs. Most windows on the upstairs floors are eight-over-eight true divided lights. These are superior quality with wide mullions that have deep raised reveals. It’s impressive to look through these windows to the polychrome slate roof and wide copper valleys and appreciate the use of the finest possible building materials.

A nautical theme is evident in unusual crown moldings crafted in the plaster. (The living room’s crown seems to resemble ships’ ropes and lines.) Other accents through the house show ships. Even the cabinetry is fitted tightly like that on ships at sea. The original owners clearly had a love of boats and the sea. My guess is that they must have traveled extensively. The current owners are fascinated by these connections. “They left their signatures for people to understand and interpret. It’s cool, it’s intriguing,” they note. “This is not just a house: it was someone’s home, and their signatures are in the structure.”Hall and Sebastian have done extensive landscaping and many exterior renovations (even reclaiming a garden fountain and installing copper lighting and a recycling pump so that water no longer empties into a drain). The interior renovations are a little slower, many of which can’t be seen. There is still evidence of a series of circular holes drilled in the plaster (from a major insulation project) which need to be patched. Interior painting is on the list of future projects. The owners would like to reintroduce colors they believe might have been part of the original décor.Greenstein designed an elaborate air conditioning system (manufactured by Carrier) that was installed several years after construction. The house may have been one of the earlier private residences in the area to have this amenity. The equipment was enormous and invasive, and the current owners have removed the mechanicals and ductwork, allowing the second-floor ceiling to now show its original generous height.

The bathrooms are vibrant,
including one in a particularly
beautiful shade of teal with tiled
walls, ceiling, and floor.

A wonderful room in the basement is referred to as the Recreation Room on the original plans. Its fireplace is flanked by large daylight windows. Art glass screens conceal them, with Greenstein’s colorful designs back-lit by natural light. The floor is a beautiful pattern of random pieces of marble terrazzo laid in a handsome composition.

I must also comment on the exceptional tile work that appears throughout the house. It might be a stretch, but the colors, patterns, and unusual craftsmanship exhibited in their installation are reminiscent of the fabulous designs by Barcelona’s Antonio Gaudí. The tiled walls and floors are bathed in stunning colors. The bathrooms are vibrant, especially one in a particularly beautiful shade of teal with tiled walls, ceiling, and floor. Another (which belonged to the lady of the house) is a knockout. Tiles are cut and fit to exacting detail.

Elsewhere, there’s a rich feel to the irregular, even broken pieces, like Gaudí’s trencadís: a technique of piecing random shapes and sizes to form fabulous designs, here superbly installed and crafted. Several beautiful sculpted tiles (probably brought from Europe) punctuate plaster walls in places you’d least expect to see them.

One of the original owners must have collected antique lighting fixtures, for he built many of them into the rooms as sconces and overhead lighting. Some appear to have been antiques at the time of the home’s construction. Many are rustic, each a different design and type (including an original candle-mold lantern). An assortment of extra fixtures and parts was left with the house. There is probably a wealth of untold stories surrounding the unusual collection.

Even the basement hall doors and cabinetry are customfitted in knotty pine. All of the hardware in the house is hand forged. Many doors have custom-fitted latches, locks, and hinges that would also be an interesting study in themselves. The original wine cellar is outfitted with cupboards and racks, temperature measured by the original thermometer, surfaces still finished with the original green paint.

The basement is called the Recreation Room in the original plans. Its fireplace is flanked by large daylight windows, with art glass screens designed by owner Greenstein.

Even the wrought iron work is exceptional. Banisters and balustrades are all handcrafted and uniquely designed. On the terraces, beautiful wrought-iron railings represent vines and plants and even a bowl of fruit at the dining area.The original owners are gone. Shinah Greenstein died first (in 1967), followed by her husband Louis Greenstein (at age eighty-four in 1972). Dr. Aaron (who was an internationally respected gastroenterologist) died in 1975 at the age of eighty-five. The Buffalo Evening News called Aaron “the Elder Statesman of Area Medicine.” The home’s current owners have the newspaper articles of the triad’s achievements along with their obituaries. They also have the original architectural plans and landscape designs for the family’s mausoleum at Forest Lawn.

Barry A. Muskat is an architectural historian and Buffalo Spree’s architecture critic.

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