The Humphrey Home
332 Goundry Street - 1889
A magnificent example of the Shingle style! This cross-gabled mansion features massive side gables encompassing the second and third stories into one volume, and the front and rear gables projecting from this volume. A broad wrap-around porch envelops the front; the entryway is flanked by richly carved stubby columns with prominent entasis. The earth-tone paint scheme is entirely appropriate for a house of this period. The wonderful exterior is only a foretaste of the magnificence that awaits within.
The principle rooms of the first floor have been little altered since the house was built, in spite of being used as a boarding house for decades. The result is a wonderful evocation of 1890s décor. Beautifully carved oak and cherry woodwork retain their original natural finish, and the original effect is complemented by the owners’ use of earth-tone wallpaper, plants and bric-a-brac. The mantels are masterpieces of the woodcarvers’ art; note the basketweave capitals on the living room mantel! The main stairhall is the tour-de-force, the sweep of the stairs flanked by “bamboo” columns and surmounted by an incredible opalescent glass window.
The original stable is out back. Designed to complement the house; it now serves as apartments.
This house was built in 1889 for Paschal Smith Humphrey, who at his death in 1937 at the age of 86 was the oldest native-born resident of the Tonawandas. (He died in this house, his only home since its construction, except for one year he spent in Michigan.) Prominent in banking and real estate, he was best known as principle of the insurance firm of Humphrey & Vandervoort. In his early manhood he became identified with the lumber industry through his connection with the Evans-Kilmaster Company, which conducted an extensive rafting business, bringing rafts of timber down the lakes to the Tonawandas to be made into lumber and shingles.
This home was originally built as a wedding present for the Humphreys at a cost of $7,500. The Humphreys were known for the elaborate house dances they gave for their daughter and her friends. Waltzes and two steps were the rage and the girls wore full length gowns with voluminous trains and long white kid-gloves.