Parkside East Historic District

Parkside East is a neighborhood of about 226 acres curving around the east and northeast edges of Delaware Park in Buffalo, roughly four miles north of downtown. It was laid out from Frederick Law Olmsted's 1876 and c. 1886 plans for Parkside, a residential subdivision meant to extend the park and shield it from incompatible development. Informal curving streets, Medina sandstone curbs, grass parking strips and mature trees give the streetscapes their character. The district holds 1,109 contributing principal buildings, mostly small wood-frame single-family houses built between 1888 and 1936. Narrow gabled houses and American four-squares predominate, with smaller numbers of Queen Anne, Shingle, Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival examples. Four Prairie style houses by Frank Lloyd Wright, including the Darwin Martin House, stand alongside Romanesque Revival and English Gothic church complexes. Its high level of original integrity and its link to Olmsted's design for the park edge are the main reasons for its recognition.