File:William P. Luedeke House, Buffalo, New York - 20220809.jpg

English: The William P. Luedeke House, 77 Northampton Street, Buffalo, New York, August 2022. Built in 1896, this two-story wood-framed residence is situated on the northern boundary of the city's Masten Park neighborhood and is a fine example of the Colonial Revival style of architecture that was then approaching the apex of its popularity. Especially notable is the detailing around the front entrance and the large first-story window (carved Doric pilaster strips and engaged Ionic columns feature on both, while a characteristic fanlight tops the former), the fluted Ionic pilaster strips that frame the sides of the façade, the swag reliefs undergirding the projecting eaves of the truncated hipped roof, and the broken pediment crowning the front dormer: all examples of the style's Neoclassical basis. A native of Glowitz, Germany (now Główczyce, Poland), original owner William P. Luedeke (1862-1932) was long a prominent figure in Buffalo's financial community: he began his career at the German Bank at the age of fourteen and had risen to the post of assistant cashier and receiving teller by the time he lived in this house. After that bank's failure in 1907, two years after he moved out, he undauntedly went on to co-found the American Savings Bank, of which he would serve as an executive until his death.