Carolyn Roland-Your Delaware and Chester County Historic Homes Specialist

The Architectural Treasures of Buffalo New York are many, and a recent visit there highlighted several, including this magnificent pile of Medina Sandstone which was designed just after the Civil War by Henry Hobson Richardson. The Buffalo State Hospital, originally sat on 200 acres north of the city, and consisted of 11 buildings. It is in a rather uncertain state right now, with a chain link fence around much of the main building. Buffalo State University now stands on part of the original farmland which surrounded the building.

Another great Buffalo building is on Main St., downtown. The Ellicott Square Building, 1895-6 was designed by Daniel Burnham with Charles B. Atwood. At the time of its completion, it was called the largest office building in the world. Its glass covered concourse is one of Buffalo's most ornamental public spaces. Its concourse is so lovely that a wedding reception was being set up the day we were there.

Contrasting all this delicacy is the nearby Erie Community College building, originally designed to house Federal Courts and designed by James Knox Taylor, architect of the U.S. Treasury. It had later tenants and was in danger of being torn down in 1969, when a critic called it a "monstrous pile of death-like stone." Preservationists thought otherwise, and in 1972 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places!
These are just a few of the great buildings that make Buffalo an interesting place for an out-of-town architecture lover and Realtor in the historic home field.

I was fortunate enough to take part in a Lower Merion Conservancy sponsored tour of English Village, hidden away in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. This 1920's enclave of 29 Tudor style homes was designed to recall a medieval village centered on a "green" (now occupied by 2 ranch houses). With half-timbered exteriors, steeply pitched roofs, leaded casement windows, and brick wall cladding and chimneys with brick and stone inserts in interesting patterns, the homes on Loves Lane and Arthurs Round Table were relatively isolated when built.

One of the early residents here was S. Arthur Love, the architect who designed the English Village. His younger brother, Donald Love, was the developer of the neighborhood who lived with his wife, Estelle Lippincott Love, his 5 children, a nurse, a cook, and a servant at 626 Loves Lane. This home has original Mercer tile floors and mahogany paneling reportedly salvaged from John Wanamaker's home on Walnut St. in Philadelphia. Being the largest home and lot in English Village, this home has room for a lovely little garden with a water feature. I am grateful to the owners of these special homes in Lower Merion Township's English Village for letting us into these lovely homes last week.

Visitors to the environmental center at the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge , whether they come by foot, water taxi or car, are greeted by a 10-acre botanic garden. Native plants, benches, flagstone paths, rivulets and a statue of Russell W. Peterson by sculptor Charles Parks set the tone of this scene overlooking the Christina River and the Wilmington skyline.

Peterson left his mark on Delaware with the Coastal Zone Act of 1972, a law intended to protect Delaware's coast from heavy industry. In the 1960s, he started a battle with oil companies who saw the Delaware River as fertile ground for new industrial uses. But Gov. Peterson's love of nature stood in the way as he recently told an enthralled group (of which I was a part) at the Delaware Historical Society. Commerce Maurice Stans told Peterson to back off. "Governor, you are being disloyal to your country," Stans said. "Hell no," Peterson replied. "I'm being loyal to future generations of Americans." Later in life, Peterson led the effort to reclaim the marshland south of Wilmington. This weekend's opening of the education center at the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge is the realization of Peterson's vision.

This giant tree sculpture proved a popular place for children and their parents on opening day of the complex. There is a naming contest for the giant "Lord of the Rings" type sculpture, and no one had to explain to these kids what to do with it. Now it remains to be seen if they and their generation are able to live Governor Peterson's legacy!

October 10, 2009 marked the public opening of the 212 acre Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge on the Christina River in Wilmington. It is located at the end of Justison St., past Frawley Stadium and the Riverfront Restaurants. Seen as a chance to get city residents and other urban dwellers interested in the natural world around them and a chance to re-establish species that once thrived along the Christina River, the center is named for former Delaware Governor Russell W. Peterson, author of the Coastal Zone Act, which stopped further industrial development along the Delaware coast.

The Delaware Nature Society operates Environmental Education Center here where the city, river, and marsh meet. On opening day, the public had a chance to check out the site's features.

The Wilmington Fire Department Fireboat greeted visitors with a salute, and farther down the path to the refuge, landscape features lead to the bridge to the center.

The Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge is open to the public year-round and features indoor and outdoor exhibits on water related natural and cultural history topics and a boardwalk that extends into the marsh. Delaware Nature Society programs are offered for all ages, as well as courses for teachers.

Driving north through Avondale, Pennsylvania on Route 41, the Lancaster Pike, it's not hard to imagine what the town looked like 100 years ago, because many of the buildings still remain.

The Allen Block is an active residence today, and is seen in this historic photo taken about the time the Borough of Avondale was created in 1894. Although part of New Garden and London Gove Townships, the Borough has its own personality, with origins under 2 separate grants from William Penn. New Garden was the western part of a grant to Letitia and William Penn Jr., called the Manor of Stenning. The London Grove portion was given to Penn, Jr. in 1706 as part of a grant from the London Company, a group of prosperous London merchants overseeing these holdings.

The Eastern Branch of the White Clay Creek runs along the Western edge of the Borough of Avondale, and many lovely Victorian homes are located in its boundaries. The name Avondale comes from the early holdings of William Miller, who called his land "Avondale Farms." Today, several historic Miller residences still exist outside of the Borough.