History
The Story of The Knights
506 Delaware Ave., built in 1870, was the home of Chillion M. Farrar, a prominent industrialist in Buffalo. Born in Detroit in 1829, Farrar moved to Buffalo in the 1840s, rising through the ranks at the Sidney Shepard Iron Works. In 1864, he partnered with John Trefts and Theodore C. Knight to form Farrar Trefts & Knight (later Farrar & Trefts), producing boilers, engines, and marine propellers, and supplying the growing oil industry. Farrar also invented a reversible steam engine, crucial for drilling oil and artesian wells.
The mansion was a striking symbol of its owners' success, with elegant rooms adorned in rare woods like mahogany and walnut, and furnished with fine pieces. It featured a spacious dining room, conservatories, and a large living room where, in 1901, President McKinley briefly conversed with Farrar during his visit to Buffalo for the Pan American Exposition.
The building boasts exquisite woodwork on the ground floor and around the atrium, accentuated by large, ornately framed mirrors. Designed in the Second Empire style, it features a distinctive mansard roof, providing a full upper story of usable space, while pedimented dormers add character and light to the roofline. These elements together embody the grand, refined aesthetic typical of mid-to-late 19th-century architecture.
