373 Goundry Street

The Wurlitzer Home – 373 Goundry Street – Circa 1905

Garden Party, Italian fountain, Colonial Style house

This imposing mansion is a textbook example of the Colonial Revival style. The façade is rigidly symmetrical, with the corners framed by pilasters. The most prominent feature is the projecting portico, with slender colossal columns supporting a pediment containing a spider web oculus.

The light, bright colors are appropriate to the period, when many people sought to lighten up after decades of earth tones during the Victorian era. However, the present appearance is not original.

When built around 1905 for John H. Edwards, bookkeeper for the Robinson Bros. Lumber Co., the house had a one-story porch that extended across the entire front façade. Around 1916, this mansion was purchased by Farny R. Wurlitzer, who had just moved here from his native Cincinnati to run the musical instrument factory his father Rudolph had recently purchased.

Wurlitzer immediately hired North Tonawanda architect Louis F. Eggert to rebuild the house into a more striking example of the Colonial Revival, and to remodel the interior as well. The beautiful solarium, recently restored, dates to this period.

Upon entering, notice the house is bisected by a stair hall running from front to back, in the manner of Georgian houses of the Colonial period. The principal rooms are arranged on either side of this hall. As was appropriate for this period, some of the woodwork is painted, while some is left in natural finish. This interior presents a striking contrast to the Victorian interiors common when it was built.

The garage at the rear dates to 1933.