Blessed Sacrament Church - Links
Blessed Sacrament Church
1029 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY
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Built |
1887-1889 |
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Enlarged: |
1908, by Albert A. Post, architect |
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Moved: |
1911 |
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Exterior material: |
Medina sandstone |
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Style: |
Gothic Revival |
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Status: |
Linwood Preservation District |
TEXT Beneath Illustrations
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Present location is 200' back from its original site near Delaware Avenue |
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Gothic Revival columns with foliated capitals |
See photo of rose window from inside the church |
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See photo of skylight from inside the church |
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South elevation. Note corbel tables and trefoils in stained glass windows. Pier buttresses are used to reinforce the walls. |
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Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacramant. Moved 300 (sic?) feet to make room for the New St. Joseph's Cathedral |
The Blessed Sacrament Chapel, as it stands today, originally was built as a small chapel adjoining the Bishop's residence on the corner of Delaware and West Utica.
By 1885 the area around St. Joseph's Cathedral on Franklin Street had become undesirable for the Bishop to live in. It was no longer the residential area it was during the construction the cathedral, as railroads and businesses now backed up to the rear of the property.
Laymen of the church suggested to Bishop Ryan [the second bishop of Buffalo, succeeding Bishop John Timon] that he build a house and chapel in the Cold Springs area and provide for the religious needs of the scattered families there.
Ground was broken for the chapel in the spring of 1887 and Bishop Ryan placed the cornerstone in October, 1887. He dedicated the 288 seat house of worship in services on 26 May, 1889.
Being the chapel where the Bishop the Catholic Diocese said daily mass, it quickly attracted a larger audience than intended. Around 1900, the chapel was designated as a parish church. With the building no longer of sufficient size to accommodate the number of people desiring to attend services, the Diocese, using plans prepared by architect Albert A. Post, enlarged it in 1908. The sanctuary wall was moved back from the rear of the building and the transept added, increasing the seating capacity to 600 people.
With the size of the congregation continuing to grow, the diocese purchased the property adjoining the Bishop's house in 1908 with plans of replacing the chapel with a larger church. In 1909, the Bishop decided to erect a large cathedral on the site.Moving the Chapel
As preparations for the cathedral were made, the chapel was moved 200 feet back from its original site near Delaware Avenue. Between April and September, 1911, the 4.000 ton chapel was lifted from its foundation and slowly rolled to its current site. It was the first brick church of its size to be moved in the United States.
The chapel is home to a superb collection of windows crafted in Innsbruck, Austria and to two altarpieces from Italy. Blessed by Pope Gregory in 590 AD, the Altar of St. Gregory, originally was in the Church of San Salvador in Thermos. Of gray Carrara marble, it contains a numbers of relics including one of the Holy Cross.
The second altar, dedicated to St. Martin, dates from the 17th Century. It was originally in the Chapel of the Church of San Marino in Rome. Msgr. McGloin brought the altars to Buffalo in 1906.
