File:Dean R. Nott House, Buffalo, New York - 20221203.jpg

English: The Dean R. Nott House, 556 Lafayette Avenue, Buffalo, New York, December 2022. Although Arts & Crafts was not part of their usual stylistic oeuvre, here the locally-based architectural practice of Colson & Hudson pull off a textbook example of the aesthetic: the bottom-heavy massing, varied exterior composition, earth-toned color palette, and low-pitched hipped roof with widely overhanging eaves are all classic elements. Note however the wooden brackets that undergird those eaves, which are a good deal more ornate than usually seen on Craftsman houses and instead hearken back to older styles such as the Italianate or the French Second Empire. Dating to 1908, the house was built for Dean Ralph Nott (1871-1944), a Morgan County, Ohio native who at the time was best known as junior partner in the wholesale millinery firm of Gerber, Nott & Co., but would go on to further greatness as a business magnate with diverse interests, perhaps most notably as board chairman of the Erie County Savings Bank, a post he still held at the time of his death. Also a noted community activist and philanthropist, Nott served with distinction on the boards of the Buffalo Orphan Asylum, the Buffalo Library, and the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy and on the council of the University of Buffalo. Nott lived in the house with his family until his death.