File:Luippold-Roberts House - fmr Erion Piano Company warehouse, Buffalo Wheeling Club - Buffalo, New York - 20201101.jpg

English: The former Erion Piano Company warehouse, 301 Emslie Street, Buffalo, New York, November 2020. Sporting a design that serves as a pretty classic example of the two-and-a-half-story brick Italianates common among the remaining period building stock of the neighborhood, the building's architecture is most distinguished in its fenestration: the segmental-arched windows on the ground floor of the façade contrast with the round-arched ones on the upper floors, and in most cases the original windowpanes remain. On the north side of the building at left are visible a number of additional windows, placed irregularly and mostly bricked over; this is seen commonly on the lateral elevations of buildings that were once tucked closely in among their neighbors. For the first few decades of its existence, 301 Emslie served as a private residence: first that of John Martin Luippold (1831-1887), the German-born proprietor of the East Buffalo Brewing Company then located across Emslie Street at what's now the site of the YMCA; Luippold lived in the house from its completion in 1879 until his death, whereupon it passed into the hands of his son Otto (1869-1908), who moved into the house next door in 1892. After a brief period (1898-1901) of use as clubhouse for the Buffalo Wheeling Club, the house next passed into the hands of Dr. George Fenn Roberts (1858-1929), who from 1905 until 1917 lived and operated his medical practice there. The building's history after that point is much less clear: it came under the ownership of the Erion Piano Company likely in or just before 1924, when records show the company applied for a building permit to alter the interior of what was now used by them as a warehouse and repair shop. The rear annex seen at left was presumably built around this time. Erion's main facility was located in a now-demolished building just to the north, at the corner of William and Emslie Streets. The company's ownership of the building is reflected by the ghost sign on the façade, yet it seems to have been relatively short in duration: Erion moved about 1928 to a larger facility on Broadway, and their former William Street headquarters became home to a hardware store. 301 Emslie seems to have been used afterward as a commercial office - a 1939 advertisement gives the address in a Help Wanted ad for direct sales agents - but it is currently vacant, and apparently has been for some time.