File:Plankton House - fmr Charles H. Gibson House - Buffalo, New York - 20210712.jpg

English: Plankton House, 126 Fargo Avenue, Buffalo, New York, July 2021. The design represents a high water mark in the career of Charles Day Swan: in 1890, it was one of two by him to be published as color illustrations in consecutive issues of Scientific American Architect's and Builder's Edition, the foremost periodical of its day for those in the design and construction trades; a rare feat indeed for a Buffalo architect of strictly local renown. The unusualness of the design was undoubtedly a factor in the magazine's interest in it: though it represents the architect's favored Shingle Style, its dimensions and forms diverge greatly from the aesthetic norm. For instance, the cross-gabled roof is so steeply pitched as to be almost Gothic in appearance, with the requisite corner tower diminished to the scale of an unusual bell-shaped dormer. A pair of bay windows are tucked under the projecting side gable on the first floor. Much more typical is the front porch, asymmetrical and pedimented over the entrance, with wrought-iron supports and rails that are not original to the building but are lovely nonetheless. The house was built in 1888 as a speculative venture, with numerous classified advertisements in Buffalo newspapers of that and the following year touting the "choice modern antique oak-furnished residence" for sale. It's to be presumed that the house's appearance in Scientific American brought it to the attention of its first owner, Charles H. Gibson (1835-1900), a grain merchant with the firm of Whitney & Gibson. Gibson lived in the house until his death. Currently, the building is owned by the Nickel City Housing Cooperative, which purchased it in 2006 as the newer of the two properties in their profile. The "Plankton House", as it's now known, was vacant when they bought it and, in accordance with its mission, was repaired and reopened as cooperative housing for member-residents.