Unitarian Universalist Church - Table of Contents

Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo
695 Elmwood Avenue, at West Ferry, Buffalo, New York

Unitarian Universalist Church - Official Website

Architects:

Edward A. Kent and his brother, William W. Kent

Edward A. Kent also designed
Chemical No. 5 Firehouse, at 166 Cleveland Ave., Both the church and the firehouse were on land originally part of the John Albright estate. The church property, and perhaps the firehouse property also, was donated by Albright.

Completed:

1906

Exterior style:

English-village Gothic  (parish churches of the southern counties of England, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries)
Exterior building material:
Indiana limestone

Interior style:

Arts and Crafts / English-village Gothic

Status:

Buffalo Landmark

TEXT Beneath Illustrations


Click on photos for larger size - and additional information

The front tower: battlement; belt course; paired windows


Main entrance on W. Ferry: compound arch ...upwardly receding buttresses

Gothic-arched window with delicate tracery

Indiana limestone

Crenelation

Kent plaque

McIntyre drawing

Both the Unitarian and Universalist Churches were organized in Buffalo in 1831.

The church building of the Unitarians was located at the intersection of Franklin and Eagle streets and still exists today as the Ticor (Abstract Title) Building.

Both churches continued through the years in several locations and under several names, including a building which was later converted into the Fairfield Library on Amherst St. See Bill Parke's complete list and map of the various churches.

In 1953, the Unitarian and the Universalist churches combined to form the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo, which used as its place of worship the Unitarian Church building at Elmwood and Ferry streets,

695 Elmwood, Kent's chef-d'oeuvre

This church was possibly last work of Edward Austin Kent, 1904, before his death on Titanic.

The church was built in 1904 on land donated by John J. Albright, famed Buffalo industrialist and philanthropist, whose estate occupied much of the north side of West Ferry Street between Delaware and Elmwood. (Albright's Art Gallery also was completed in 1904.)

Kent also designed Chemical No. 5 Firehouse, at 166 Cleveland Ave., on land which was also on the Albright estate.

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.

Over the years the church has served as a center for social action causes (for example, during the Vietnam War) and a meeting place for those espousing them.

Exterior features:


Sources:


Special thanks to Senior Minister Rev. Joel Miller for his cooperation
and to Church Historian Bill Parke for his assistance

Photos and their arrangement © 2009 Chuck LaChiusa
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