A Stanford White Gilded Age Mansion Just Cut to $3.7 Million

Most things on Zillow are houses. Some are interesting houses. A very small number are 40-room Gilded Age mansions designed by Stanford White, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and anchoring one of the most storied stretches of architecture in upstate New York. The Williams-Butler Mansion at 672 Delaware Avenue in Buffalo is that last thing — and it just listed at $3.7 million — down from an original ask of $4.9 million.

130 Years of History in One Address

Built between 1896 and 1899 for George L. Williams, a prominent Buffalo banker, the mansion was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White — the most celebrated architectural firm of the Gilded Age, responsible for landmarks including Madison Square Garden, the Washington Square Arch, and Rosecliff in Newport. White had a particular history with Buffalo, having previously worked as associate architect to H.H. Richardson on the Buffalo State Hospital, and the Williams commission gave him a prominent corner on Delaware Avenue to work with. The result cost approximately $250,000 at the time — the equivalent of several million dollars today — and it shows. Original woodwork, marble fireplaces, and craftsmanship that the current listing broker describes as covering "every single inch" of the interior from floor to ceiling. After Williams sold the estate, it passed to Edward Hubert Butler Sr., publisher of the Buffalo Evening News, cementing its place in the city's civic fabric. In the decades that followed, it moved through the hands of Roswell Park Hospital, Delaware North Companies, Varity Corporation (which used it as its world headquarters), and ultimately the University at Buffalo, which operated it as the Jacobs Executive Development Center. It was sold in December 2022 and has now returned to market.

What $3.7 Million Actually Buys

The estate totals over 29,000 square feet across the main mansion and a historic carriage house, on 3.28 park-like acres at the corner of Delaware Avenue and North Street — the heart of Buffalo's Millionaires' Row. Eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 40 rooms, countless marble fireplaces, and two commercial-grade kitchens in the basement round out the interior. Outside, 53 surface parking spaces, multiple courtyards, and expansive grounds give the property a scale more consistent with an institution than a residence — which, for much of its life, it was. The zoning designation allows for mixed-use development, and the listing floats single-family restoration, boutique hotel, executive offices, or event venue as viable directions. For context, the Metropolitan Museum of Art salvaged and permanently displays the complete entryway from the adjacent Stanford White-designed Metcalfe House, demolished in 1980. The Williams-Butler Mansion is one of the few remaining Stanford White residential works still intact — a fact the listing broker calls "truly a testament" to its endurance.

The Internet Has Thoughts

Naturally, this listing caught the attention of Reddit's r/zillowgonewild community. See what people are saying about it here.

One of the last surviving Stanford White mansions in America is on the market. This one is worth seeing in full. View the full listing here.