The gas pillars wouldn't have had glass shades -- they were meant to resemble candles, including an open flame. The Mission/Craftsman style of the fixture shows that it was probably not even 10 years old in 1916 (the house doesn't look much older, for that matter).

My house didn't get electricity until 1926, and it's right in the middle of the city. Electricity, even in the so-called "City of Light" that Buffalo claimed to be, was so expensive that only the wealthy could afford it until the late 1920s. Buffalo rates in 1910 translate to $2.40 per meter click, compared to my current (high) rate of around 22 cents!

My sister has pointed out that our grandparents' chandelier is a combination gas/electric model. Fixtures of this kind were common in the later 1800s when newfangled electrical supply was not as reliable as tried-and-true gas. On this one, the upward-pointing things that look like stubby candles are the gas fixtures, and the fact that they no longer have glass shades is an indication that they'd been long unused at this point. Click here to enlarge.