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Preservation Ready: Sacred spaces under a deathwatch

Dwindling attendance, deteriorating neighborhoods, and expensive upkeep has created a perfect storm, one that has been ravaging Catholic churches in Buffalo. Some sit empty, awaiting reuse after recent diocese-mandated closures. Others have been closed for a long time and—without a last-minute savior—will surely be demolished. Still others are living out their final months of active service, having been notified that they will be closed.

This month, we look at three endangered Buffalo churches; one of them remains open (though only as an oratory as of September 18), and the other two have been shuttered for years.

 

St. Adalbert Basilica, 212 Stanislaus

The early history of this 125-year-old church is strange and fascinating. The first decade seems to have been characterized by almost continual disagreements between the parishioners and their (soon to be ex) pastors. The congregation of St. Adalbert’s was formed in 1886 by a group of Polish immigrants who disliked the crowded conditions of St. Stanislaus and its pastor Rev. Jan Pitass. The new parish grew, and eventually—despite the turbulent conditions prevailing during the embattled reigns of Rev. Anthony Klawiter, Rev. Martin Mozejewski, and Rev. Anthony Lex—the current Romanesque basilica was completed in 1890. In 1907, the Vatican proclaimed St. Adalbert’s America’s first basilica, a designation that comes with certain privileges (such as the ability to host the Pope).

Designed by R. Huber and Company, St. Adalbert’s—with a seventy-foot-wide nave and 118-foot transept—is one of the largest religious buildings in Buffalo. Its many distinguishing features include an imposing dome and interior murals completed in 1924 by local ecclesiastical painter Josef Mazur. The ornate, richly colored stained glass windows are from Mayer of Munich, a German company that still exports thousands of stained glass windows for churches all over the world. The church’s realistic Stations of the Cross, also imported from Germany, are composites of carved wood and papier maché.

Despite its history and architectural magnificence, St. Adalbert’s was designated for closure in 2007, along with dozens of other churches as part of a sweeping diocese-wide downsizing and restructuring entitled “The Journey in Faith and Grace.” Like Catholic parishes throughout the seven-county Diocese of Buffalo, St. Adalbert’s has experienced a downward demographic shift. If it wanted to paraphrase Norma Desmond, it might say, “I am big. It’s the congregation that got small.” After three years of appeals to the Vatican, the remaining parishioners won a small victory: Though the parish will still merge with St. John Kanty (101 Swinburne St.), St. Adalbert’s can still be used for weddings and funerals. This equivocal status leaves the church in a precarious state; in the absence of regular use of its facilities, its future cannot be considered assured.

 

Our Lady of Lourdes, 1115 Main St.

Like St. Adalbert’s, Our Lady of Lourdes owes its existence to a schism within a congregation. French-speaking parishioners at St Louis, the first Catholic Church in Buffalo, objected to what they saw as their subjugation under the German-controlled parish. They founded a new church, St. Peter’s, first at Tupper and Washington in 1850, and then on the site of what it now the Lafayette Hotel. In the late 1890s, the congregation began planning for a new church, which was completed in 1898 at the current site. Designed by architects A.E. Minks and Sons, the exterior is a mixture of the Romanesque and Gothic styles, uses Medina sandstone, and has two charmingly mismatched spires, one with an open belfry. The windows were designed by Fernando J. Reister of Buffalo Stained Glass. Inside, the 1930s-era murals are the work of local artist Carlo Antonio Nisita; the sanctuary was enlarged with the addition of a marble altar and pillars in 1924, under Rev. Albert Rivers. Over the years since its founding, the small parish became, according to writer George Thomas Apfel, a “neighborhood cultural center, featuring primary education, religion, and social activities.” Sadly, the neighborhood Apfel remembers had largely disappeared by the time the church was closed as part of a relatively uncontroversial reorganization in 1993.

Our Lady of Lourdes was purchased by Prayer & Praise Fellowships from the Diocese in 1995. In 2009, Ellicott Development’s 9274 Group acquired the school building and rectory belonging to the church; the developers bought the church itself in 2010. In between the 1995 and 2009 ownerships, the interior was stripped of most of its significant architectural features. No signs of redevelopment have been seen at the church, and it is unknown what the reuse plans might be. (Calls to Ellicott Development were not returned at the time of this writing.) With a location that’s close to—but a little too far from—both the BNMC and the entertainment district, the fate of this small gem is still a big question mark.

 

Transfiguration Church, 929 Sycamore

Unencumbered by battling congregations, Transfiguration was the result of a general agreement that the growing Polish community on Buffalo’s East Side needed another place of worship. Founded in 1893, the new church was first sited in a small chapel on Stanislaus that very quickly became insufficient. The present Sycamore Street church was dedicated in 1887. Designed by Carl Schmill, it is an imposing Gothic Revival structure with a massive central tower, arched entrance, stained glass windows topped with medallions, and murals by Joseph Mazur in the ethereal vaulted interior.

Transfiguration was officially closed in 1990, but services continued until 1993. The Diocese originally intended to demolish the structure after removing its most significant architectural details, but this decision was immediately protested by former parishioners and others. After an extended court case, it was instead sold by the diocese in 1994 to a not-for-profit group entitled Paul Francis Associates, Inc., and received a small amount of block grant funding to repair the structure, which they renamed Sycamore Street Sounds of Joy. The structure was also designated as a local landmark by the Common Council at this time.

Since this purchase, the story of Transfiguration Church has been largely told in Housing Court, as the current owners have attempted to keep up with a volley of violations. Tiles had been falling off the compromised roof for years, the murals are peeling off the walls, and windows are missing. Although some remedial action has been taken—the windows are boarded up, there is new paving, and the roof has been patched—serious problems remain. According to Pauline Nowak of Paul Francis Associates, a major impediment to reuse is the state in which the Diocese left it. “[It was] stripped of its contents and undergoing real time demolition activity since 1993,”she says. In 2009, however, Diocese director of communications Kevin Keenan wrote in a Buffalo News op-ed:
“In 1994, due to the advancing deterioration of the church, the diocese and the parish obtained a building permit to demolish the church. The plan was to beautify the site as green space as a positive use for the community ...
“Based on the recommendation of the Buffalo Common Council ... Bishop Edward D. Head agreed to sell the church property to Pauline Nowak and her son, Francis Trezevant, of Paul Francis Associates, for the price of $7,000.
“We were assured that Paul Francis Associates was up to the task at hand. ... Sadly, we know the history of the church building. Due to the failure of the city to deliver the block grant funding and the neglect of its owners—not the diocese—the church has fallen into disrepair.”
It would be difficult to deny the last six words of his statement. They hold true for far too many local church buildings.   

 

 

        

Elizabeth Licata is editor of Buffalo Spree

Thanks to David Steele and photographer Joseph Cascio. Sources: James Napora, Houses of Worship: A Guide to the Religious Architecture of Buffalo, New York; George Thomas Apfel’s 2007 post “Our Lady of Lourdes History” in Buffalo Rising Online; Peter Koch’s article “Fall from Grace,” in Artvoice, 8/2/07; Sycamore Street Sounds of Joy (pre-publication); and various posts by activist David Torke in FixBuffalo (fixbuffalo.blogspot.com).