File:Butler-Shea House, Buffalo, New York - 20220219.jpg

English: The Butler-Shea House, 429 Linwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, February 2022. Built in 1886 to a design by the prolific local architectural partnership of Joseph Lyman Silsbee and James Herbert Marling, here we have a most unusual iteration of the then-popular Queen Anne style constructed of brick with sumptuous trim in terra cotta and Medina sandstone. The most eye-catching feature of the house is its cross-gabled roof, especially the tall Flemish gable adorning the main façade, flanked by a pair of unusual gargoyles in the shape of dogs. However, distinguished also are the exquisite windows, each of which is unique in design and most of which contain truly remarkable art glass. The one on the second floor above the entrance is perhaps the grandest of all of these, and note the stylized Ionic capitals and ornate strapwork engraved into the terra cotta surround. The ground floor is characterized by elegant albeit non-original decorative wrought iron, most prominently on the front porch and the porte-cochère on the north side of the building. Original owner Edward Hubert Butler (1850-1914) was best known as the founding publisher of the Buffalo Evening News, but also distinguished himself as a politico, serving on the state Board of Electors and as a delegate to the 1908 Republican National Convention. Butler lived in the house until 1897, when he moved into the former George L. Williams Mansion on Delaware Avenue. Subsequent owner John J. Shea (1875-1926) served as president of Lathrop, Shea & Howard, a contracting firm specializing in railroad construction. Shea purchased the home in 1917, and his descendants still own it today.