File:Michael Wisniewski House, Buffalo, New York - 20210630.jpg

English: The Michael Wisniewski House, 144 Rother Avenue, Buffalo, New York, June 2021. One of the earliest homes erected on this block, this is a classic early example of the so-called "workers' cottages" hastily erected in the Broadway-Fillmore section of Buffalo at the close of the 19th century to accommodate a rapidly growing Polish-American immigrant community that was coalescing in the neighborhood. The rear portion of the house, unfortunately not visible from the perspective of this image, is also a good example of the "telescoping" phenomenon, whereby progressively smaller and narrower additions were added to the back of a building to accommodate additional bedrooms for the famously large families Buffalo Polish couples raised. Like most such houses in this section of the city, it was home to a revolving door of owners and tenants in its early years who came and went in rapid succession: its longest-term owner over the first couple decades of its existence, industrial laborer Michael Wisniewski, only stayed for five years (1887 through 1892). Much later, it was home to the photographer's great-great-uncle Edward Buczkowski (1910-1966), who lived there with his wife Viola, their son Robert, and her parents Stephen and Anna Potkowski from 1936 until 1940.