File:Zwetsch-Payne-Clarke House, Buffalo, New York - 20220607.jpg

English: The Zwetsch-Payne-Clarke House, 39 Tillinghast Place, Buffalo, New York, June 2022. It is believed that this is one of some 70,000 partially prefabricated "kit houses" purchased through Sears, Roebuck & Co.'s "Modern Homes" catalog and shipped by train in pieces to its construction site, a popular innovation in home construction in the early 20th century. There were 370 separate models offered by Sears over the 32 years its catalog was in operation, and this one is a quintessential example of Craftsman bungalow architecture with its squat dimensions, widely overhanging eaves, prominent front porch, and combination stone and stucco façade. The Robert W. Ingersoll House, a Sears catalog home of identical design, stands just a short distance down the street at 16 Tillinghast. The house was built in 1912 for Horace C. Zwetsch (1871-1932), who lived there until his marriage to the former Florence Male four years later. Zwetsch was then an up-and-comer in the financial field, serving as banking representative and later manager for the local securities firm of A. B. Leach & Company during the time he lived in the house, then moving to Cleveland and later New York City, where he would end up as the wealthy head of the investment banking firm of Zwetsch, Heinzelmann & Company. A succession of short-tenured owners followed: Nickel Plate Railroad passenger agent Robert Payne (1859-1930) lived there for the two years after Zwetsch sold the place, followed by coal salesman Charles H. Clarke (born c. 1867), about whom little is known.