A Picture Perfect Bennett "Vernon" (Literally!!!)

Ray H Bennett Vernon in its debut appearance 1922

Probably the most well-documented Ray H. Bennett house in the Buffalo-Niagara area is the Vernon at 244 Potters Road, Buffalo, NY. There have been newspaper articles, TV segments, Youtube videos . . . and I am going to add to the documentation. 😄

The Bennett Vernon made its debut in 1922 (catalog 21) and appeared in catalog 24 (1923), catalog 30 (1925), catalog 34 (1926), catalog 38 (1928), and catalog 39 (1930). It probably appeared in other catalogs, but it looks like it was no longer offered by catalog 43 (1937).  Ray H. Bennett was no longer associated with Ray H. Bennett Lumber Co. in 1937 having left the company around 1934.

The Vernon illustrated in catalogs 21, 24, and 30 is the very house at 244 Potters Road, Buffalo, NY. built in 1922 by Herman Lasch.

Notice of building permit Buffalo Evening News July 12, 1922

Notice of mortgage Buffalo Courier July 4, 1922. 

In the original catalog photo below, you can just see Cazenovia Park and Cazenovia Creek in the background along the horizon. Now it's obscured by other houses and almost 100 years of tree growth. Interestingly, the first two years the house appeared in the catalog, the house was devoid of landscaping. When it appeared in catalog 30, the editor decided to add foliage to the photo.  In the next catalog, they used a whole new photo of a different Vernon.

Herman Lasch's Vernon in catalogs 21 and 24.

Herman Lasch's Vernon with a catalog makeover in catalog 30.

Here are some of the articles and videos about 244 Potters Road.

YouTube video - this was a real estate ad from when the house was on the market in 2006. Shows a bit of the history of the house and the beautiful interiors. The catalog image that is shown is from the second, later Vernon - not Mr. Lasch's. Note the chimneys and the brick instead of stone foundation.

Article from the wonderful Buffalo-related website, Forgotten Buffalo:

http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/forgottenbflofeatures/rayhbennetthome.html

They re-post an article that appeared in the Buffalo News that contains some inaccuracies which are kind of surprising coming from the director of the (now defunct?) North Tonawanda History Museum (I'll go into those in a later post - stay tuned!).

I'm a sucker for Dutch Colonial houses and Ray H Bennett Lumber Co offered quite a few. I love the Vernon for its quirkiness - the single window and the bump-out with the double window on the first floor in particular. I've found quite a few in Erie and Niagara Counties, but none as nice as this one.