Reprinted with permission as a public service by the Landmark Society of the Niagara Frontier, now the Preservation Buffalo Niagara


Houses of Worship: A Guide to the Religious Architecture of Buffalo, New York
By James Napora
Table of Contents

Unitarian Universalist Church - Table of Contents

First Unitarian Church - 1906
West Ferry at Elmwood (NE)
Architects: Edward A. & William W. Kent
Founded 2 December, 1831

Within twenty-five years of moving from their original location on Franklin at Eagle, the First Unitarian Church, then known as the Church of Our Father, on Delaware near Mohawk (destroyed) once again found itself in an area which was becoming increasingly commercial. As a result, the congregation desired to relocate to an area more centrally located amongst it smembers. As plans were progressing for their current building, they sold the Delaware Avenue location to the Masons and began worshipping in the Church of the Messiah on North at Mariner (destroyed), home of the city's Universalist congregation.

On land donated by John J. Albright, the congregation placed the cornerstone in 1904. With the dedication of their completed building on 11 September, 1906, the society once again became known as First Unitarian Church of Buffalo.

Constructed at a cost of $100,000, the building is designed in the English Gothic style and is reminiscent of the parish churches of the English countryside. Seating 800 people, the interior is unique in that it is not plastered, rather being finished entirely in stone and wood. The oak hammerbeam roof truss of the main auditorium is perhaps the most impressive of its kind in the city. The windows are the work of the Harry E.Goodhue firm of Boston, Massachusetts.


© 1995 James Napora
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