This house was constructed by Godshalk Olson, a builder. Later, Olson sold the house to George Sandrock, a grain merchant in the 1870s. Still later, the home was owned by Samuel J. Cowles, a secretary with Gies and Co. An 1867 Buffalo City Directory lists the address of this home as number 1 Wadsworth Park, indicating that this house was one of the first along the park.
The Allentown Association provides this architectural description: “At number 18 Arlington is a two-storey Italianate structure built in 1867 which seems typical of the style, lovely but unremarkable, except that the house stands further back from the street than most of the others. The illustration here, from a photo taken at the turn of the century, demonstrates that the land was needed to contain the sprawling porch that once fronted the building and extended nearly to the street, it more closely comports with the country atmosphere of the park than does the contemporary urbane severity of the house today.”
