St. John's Grace Episcopal Church - Table of Contents

St. John's Grace Episcopal Church - Exterior Photos
51 Colonial Circle at Bidwell Pky. and Lafayette Ave.
Buffalo, New York

TEXT Beneath Illustrations

Cornerstone of original church built when St. John's abandoned downtown site at Washington & Swan. St. John's Day 1892": There is a St. John's Street south of First Presbyterian Church, Symphony Circle. That was to be the original site for the new church; however, the congregation later decided to move to the "suburbs." Exterior of the "newest" addition of St. John's, where St. John''s Grace now worships. Dedicated in 1927, the same year, I think, as when Shea's Theater opened, this photo shows the chapel extended outward toward Bidwell. A frontal view show the relationship of the newer addition to the oldest building, now the Parish Hall. St. John the Evangelist influences much of the art and furnishings of the interior space. This is a statue of St. John on the steeple. The steeple cross has no known history. The bell tower houses a bell that once rang at the downtown site. Close-up of St. John the Evangelist At his feet, To Kata Ioannen, "According to John" The main entrance is inscribed with the opening words of the Gospel according to St. John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" Art Deco bas-relief eagle above main entrance Main entrance

Memorial Cross on the wall of the parish hall which was the original entrance into the church. Current entrance into the Parish Hall from Lafayette Ave. Note dripstones with label stops over crowning lancet windows Red Parish Hall entrance in relation to the current church building View of the chapel side of the church showing bell gable. Note upper clerestory windows. A chapel window nearest the front of the church

---

Status: Buffalo Official Landmark

Erected: 1927 (See also: Highlights of Buffalo's History, 1927)

Style: English Perpendicular Gothic / Art Deco

Architects: Mayers, Murray and Philip of New York, who were to have been associated in the project with famed architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1869-1924).

Goodhue had been a partner in the prestigious firm of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson. Headed by Ralph Adams Cram, this group had become the greatest Gothic-Revival designers of the twentieth century. As evident in St. John's Grace, Goodhue's distinctive ecclesiastical style was Gothic in form but permeated with a modern spirit.

Unfortunately, Goodhue died before the actual work on the church began.

Stained Glass Windows: J. Gordon Guthrie of New York City

Architectural Features: St. John's-Grace is English Perpendicular Gothic with an unusual floor plan that includes only one side aisle, on the north, and an arcade and clerestory with long perpendicular windows on the south side.

Special features include handsome stained-glass windows by J. Gordon Guthrie of New York City and a polychromed ceiling.

---

Source: "Church Tales of the Niagara Frontier," by Austin M. Fox