File:Sikora-Buczkowski House, Buffalo, New York - 20210622.jpg

English: The Sikora-Buczkowski House, 25 Academy Road, Buffalo, New York, June 2021. Built in 1926, the house has a design that's deceptively simple at first blush, yet quite interesting once you get down into the nitty-gritty. The decorative aesthetic falls securely into the domain of the American Foursquare style, yet the pint-sized dimensions of the building are more reminiscent of a Craftsman bungalow. Even more interestingly, there are faint whiffs of Classical influence on the façade: note the brickwork on the ground floor flanking the quadruple window and to the right of the front entrance, which are fashioned into ersatz pilaster strips courtesy of central columns of contrasting-color brick and slightly projecting crowns of concrete that serve as ersatz "capitals". The leaded-glass transom above the awning at the entrance is a nice vintage touch too. The first residents of the house were the Sikora family, headed by patriarch John (born 1888), who worked as a molder at the Queen City Foundry on Northland Avenue. They owned the house until 1934. Subsequent residents of note include Otylia "Tillie" Buczkowski (1901-1955), who was one of the foremost female political figures of the era in Buffalo: she served at various times as organizer of the East Buffalo Junior Democratic League, director of the Polish Democratic Clubs of New York State, the Am-Pol Democratic Women's Club, and the Polish-American Democratic Club of Erie County, and a delegate to the state Democratic convention, as well as numerous civic, charitable, and volunteer organizations. She was also the photographer's great-great-aunt. Ms. Buczkowski lived in the house from about 1939 until her death; her sister Helen, who lived with her, stayed on until her own death in 1987.