My internet explorations bring me to many sites. Usually I am looking for some interesting twist on Buffalo. Most sites are boring or annoying. Or they might occasionally be a bit creepy. Every once in a while you find one that stops you in your tracks. That is what happened when I cam across Karl Josker’s PBase photo galleries In particular his Buffalo church interiors floored me. Even though I knew Buffalo had a great heritage of church architecture I had no idea of the true grandeur that exists. Karl has posted a variety of Buffalo and other photo essays. Among them is his Buffalo Churches essay presented in this slide show with his permission.
Buffalo’s collection of churches is nothing short of astonishing. It is comparable in variety of styles and quality with cities many times larger. These grand interior spaces, though public, are enjoyed individually by a relatively small number of people. Some are wealthy congregations with thousands of parishioners while others, especially Catholic parishes have small dwindling memberships struggling to keep up with the expenses of a large aging building. The Catholic Church recently announced plans to close many churches in the near future. This may spell doom to some of the magnificent edifices shown here. I do not know the fait of any one of these buildings and can only hope that some new use can be found for those that should be closed. Buffalo has had mixed results finding new uses for its unwanted churches. The most recent victory of course, is Ani DiFranco’s The Church on Delaware Avenue. Others have been converted to condominiums, offices, and community centers. Many, however have suffered slow death at the hands of neglectful owners. Those meeting this fait will be stripped of valuable architectural artifacts, flipped on the real estate market to unsuspecting or ill-prepared owners, and finally left to rot away as seen in this image of the Transfiguration Church on Buffalo’s East Side.
The irony in this is that as the Catholic Church closes down these masterpieces it is also building new churches both in the suburbs and in the inner city. I don’t want to criticize the actions of the Church without knowing all the facts behind those kinds of actions. But, it does beg the question “why not make use of these magnificent structures before constructing what are arguably buildings that pale in comparison. With a treasure trove of architecture as rich as Buffalo’s it is hard to keep up with the challenges of saving its heritage. Attacks come form all sides and the battles are many. The battle to save Buffalo’s churches from destruction may be the most difficult of all but, as you can see in this slide show it may be a battle we can not afford to lose.
Last 3 images from David Torke’s fixbuffalo.