File:John J Grimaldi & Associates - fmr Koerner-Littell House - Buffalo, New York - 20200925.jpg

English: The Koerner-Littell House, 137 Summer Street, Buffalo, New York, September 2020. A late-period example of the Stick style of architecture, relatively rare in Buffalo, the most eye-catching feature of the house is the projecting gable that crowns the façade, with a half-timbered exterior in whimsical colors and patterns, a bargeboard decorated with ornamental cutouts, and prominent wooden brackets as supports. A front porch is the centerpiece of the brick-clad ground floor, just to the right of the main entrance, with posts flared at the top, a dentil row at the roofline, and a bay window behind. The house's original inhabitant was Herman T. Koerner (1855-1927), a native of Brooklyn who was by now the senior partner in Koerner & Hayes, one of the city's leading lithographic and engraving firms. Koerner's ownership of the house was short-lived, lasting from 1898 until shortly after his company's bankruptcy in 1900, whereafter he retired from business but continued on to further renown as a painter and "gentleman farmer" on Grand Island. Much longer-tenured was 137 Summer's second owner, Clarence Hardin Littell (1879-1967), an engineer at the Taylor Signal Company who later took on a second career as a banker, holding executive positions with the Morris Plan Company and Liberty National Bank. Littell lived at the house from 1901 until his retirement to Tucson, Arizona a year before his death. The house has served as the offices of John J Grimaldi & Associates, an independent insurance agency and brokerage firm, since 2008.