Local
Photo courtesy of the Buffalo History Museum
Photo courtesy of the Buffalo History Museum

Looking Backward: St. Patrick’s R.C. Church

by / Dec. 13, 2017 9am EST
St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, the Hydraulics landmark that once stood at the northeast corner of Emslie and Seymour streets, was demolished in 1982 by the Diocese of Buffalo. The erasure of the ecclesiastical landmark, built in 1891 for the parish founded at the site in 1853, was a strike against the public memory of the Hydraulics as Buffalo’s first Irish neighborhood—later, a largely German and Polish neighborhood. The Diocese contracted for the demolition of St. Patrick’s, reportedly in fine shape prior to its dismantlement, without exploring adaptive reuse for the structure or marketing it to prospective buyers. The adjacent friary on Seymour Street is all that remains of the original church complex.

COMMENTS