File:Colonial Apartments, Buffalo, New York - 20220223.jpg

English: The Colonial Apartments, 399 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, New York, February 2022. Designed by the local firm of Boughton & Johnson, the main section of the building - five stories tall, seen at left here - was built in 1896; the three-story annex at right was soon to follow in 1900. The Colonial Revival style so favored by the firm is exemplified here not only in the very name of the building but also in details such as the splayed lintels and fanlights with spiderweb muntins that variously crown the windows. By contrast, the ground-floor storefront is a 1920s-era addition that brings to bear a more standard take on Classicism. The Colonial Apartments were built in an era when the stretch of Delaware Avenue on the northern periphery of downtown was quickly and tensely transitioning from a moneyed neighborhood of large single-family mansions to one dominated by a mix of high-rise apartment buildings and encroaching commercial development. With the exception of the aforementioned storefront, the building has been residential since its inception; comprising 28 units, it's one of the few apartment buildings downtown today that were not originally commercial buildings. The building was thoroughly renovated in 2019 after its purchase by the Toronto-based real estate investment company Gold Wynn.