File:W. Perry Taylor House, Buffalo, New York - 20220219.jpg

English: The W. Perry Taylor House, 405 Linwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, February 2022. Built in 1887, this three-story Shingle Style residence was principally the work of local architect James Herbert Marling, possibly with some design input by partners Joseph Lyman Silsbee and/or Herbert Burdett (the building plans were filed by the firm of Silsbee & Marling). Here we see the style exemplified beautifully, with all of its salient characteristics well evident: an enormous projecting roof gable, low-slung and bottom-heavy massing accentuated by the presence of brick cladding on the first floor and an exposed foundation of rugged stone, a color scheme of warm browns and reds, a bell-shaped pinnacle in the roof above the porte-cochère suggestive of a vestigial corner tower, and - naturally - a second- and third-story exterior faced in shingles in contrasting patterns. Some details that are less immediately obvious but no less remarkable are the spiderweb muntins on the large roundel window at the top of the front gable, as well as the ornate relief carvings on the spandrel panel of the bay window at right. The primary occupation of original owner William Perry Taylor (1846-1938) was as an executive with the Michigan Central Railroad, in which capacity he was best known for overseeing the construction of the Niagara Cantilever Bridge. However, he was also well known as a local politico (as a Democrat, he lost to Philip Becker in the 1885 Buffalo mayoral election) and as a racehorse owner. Taylor lived in the house until his death.