File:McNulty-Dillon House, Buffalo, New York - 20220309.jpg

English: The McNulty-Dillon House, 82 Meadow Road, Buffalo, New York, March 2022. One of the earliest extant houses in the NRHP-listed Parkside West Historic District, the McNulty-Dillon House is a 1926 work of architect Frederick C. Backus, indeed one of his first independent commissions after leaving his post with the municipal government. Here he employs a style described by local architectural consultant Debra Mattice as "French Eclectic", and the distinguishing characteristics seen here do call to mind the indigenous aesthetic of that country: note the steep pitch of the slate-tiled hip roof, the cream-colored stucco façade accented by the pale blue shutters framing the segmentally-arched windows, and the extremely tall chimney stack at left. Interestingly, the main entrance is found on the side elevation; round-arched, projecting slightly from the exterior wall, and topped by a small balconet with elegant wrought-iron rail. The house was built for James H. McNulty (1873-1926), a longtime executive with the firm of Pratt & Lambert, but he died in an automobile accident before construction was complete. The first actual residents of 82 Meadow were McNulty's son-in-law and daughter, Robert E. (1903-1980) and Marion McNulty Dillon (1905-2000), who occupied the house until moving to Maine about 1960. A native of Titusville, Pennsylvania, Dillon was a lifer in the iron and steel industry who headed the local division of the Struthers-Wells Corporation at the time he acquired the property, but would soon move on to a long career with the Lake Erie Machinery Corporation.