St. Anthony of Padua RC Church - Table of Contents  ................,,,,,,,,,   Houses of Worship - Table of Contents

St. Anthony of Padua RC Church
160 Court St. at S. Elmwood, Buffalo, NY
Erected: 1891

Architect:

Michael Sheehan
1904 renovation - Albert A. Post

Exterior style:

Romanesque Revival, based on basilica form
Interior style:
Renaissance Revival

St. Anthony of Padua R.C. Church was founded in 1891 by Father Antonio Gibelli of the Missionary Fathers of St. Charles Borromeo to provide for the religious well being of the large number of Italians immigrants settling in Buffalo, NY during the 19th century.

The parish quickly became the social center the of the city's 20,000 plus Italian population. Within a year, Gibelli had established the first Italian language school in the United States.
The original two-storey building housed, on the ground floor, the first Italian Catholic bilingual school in the United States, while the worship area was on the upper floor.

The church was renovated in 1904 when the sanctuary was extended and niches to patron saints were added. The plaster ceiling with recessed caissons and rosette is the work of Cesare Antozzi.

The original domed steeple on the crest of the facade was replaced in 1904 by the present tower with a clock and a bell named after St. Joseph, both donated by Alfonso Bellanca, a pioneer in the Italian community.

The mechanical pipe organ, built in 1889 by the Hook and Hastings Co. of Boston, MA and formerly in the Plymouth Baptist Church, Buffalo, was installed in 1911.
- Cultural Niagara (June 2011)


Click on illustrations for larger size -- and for more information

Romanesque style building

Belfry

Belfry

Pedimented gable with ornamental dentils

Romanesque arches

Semielliptical window capped by keystone and pediment

Corinthian pilasters

Corinthian pilaster capital

Corinthian pilaster capital: Fleuron ...Volutes ... Acanthus leaves

East elevation: Corinthian pilasters

Cornerstone: Church erected in 1891

Cornerstone: Church enlarged in 1904

1929 photo

Modified (no apse) basilica shape
2008 photo

Corinthian pilasters
2008 photo

Belfry
2008 photo

 

 

 

2008 photo

 

 

 




2016 photo  ...  Far right: City Hall
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2016 photo  ...  Belfry

Photos and their arrangement © 2002, 2008, 2016  Chuck LaChiusa.
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