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
TEXT Beneath Illustrations



Click on illustrations for larger size -- and additional information

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.
Porte-cochere

Porte-cochere with basket-handle arch

  • Widely overhanging eaves with supporting brackets
  • Square marble balusters

North (West Ferry St.) and west elevations.
Semicircular solarium at right

East (Delaware Avenue) and north (West Ferry St.) elevations

East (Delaware Avenue) elevation.
Note
hipped roof with dormer

East (Delaware Avenue) elevation


800 West Ferry condos ... Canisius High School athletic field


Gilda's Club of Western New York

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



Special thanks to Gilda's Club Executive Director Mary Beth Karr and Program Director Susan Lichtblau for their assistance
.
Gilda's Club of Western New York: A free, non-profit support community for anyone touched by cancer

Photos and their arrangement © 2005 Chuck LaChiusa
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