File:F. J. Herr Houses, Buffalo, New York - 20211004.jpg

English: Identical mirror images of each other standing near the corner of Ellicott Street, the two-story brick houses at 68 and 70 Best Street are among the oldest extant ones in the Masten Park section of Buffalo, New York (built c. 1853) and represent a very restrained take on the Italianate school of architecture that was popular at the time of their construction: on these designs, the style's trademark shallow-pitched roof is completely flattened, the bracketed cornice is present but much less prominent and elaborate than usually seen, and the minimalist framing of the windows consists only of segmental arches at the top and simple stone sills underneath. Oddly enough, the richest ornamentation is to be found on the entrance porticos (or at least that of 68 Best, on which the original remains extant): a segmentally-arched broken pediment is supported by handsome Doric pilasters, and the walkway leads to a front entrance that's crowned by a lovely fanlight. Both houses were originally owned by Franz Josef Herr (1828-1881), a painter by trade who lived with his family in the house on the right and rented the one on the left to a range of different tenants and boarders.