Unitarian Universalist Church - Table of Contents

Parkside Unitarian Church/Fairfield Library
1659 Amherst Street

The stained glass windows and choir loft are preserved inside this Colonial Revival-style building, originally constructed as the Parkside Unitarian Church and now a public library.

Relevant Dates:

• 1897 Parkside Unitarian Church
• 1912 Parkside Evangelical Lutheran Church
• 1924 Buffalo Public Library
• 1961 Library enlarged

The Parkside Unitarian Church was designed by well-known Buffalo architect and Parksider William Sydney Wicks for the Unitarian church.  Dedicated on June 11, 1897, the church features a beautiful green and yellow stained glass Palladian window across from the entrance above where the altar once stood.  A choir loft is tucked over the main entrance.  Graceful arches abound on the interior and exterior of the gray clapboard, Colonial revival style building.  The church was built close to the Amherst station of the Belt Line Railroad to serve parishioners in the growing communities north of downtown at a time when residents were dependent on trolley and rail. By 1912, the Unitarian congregation disbanded and Parkside Lutheran took up residence for the next dozen years before building a new church at Wallace and Depew in Central Park. In 1924, the City of Buffalo became the owner and has owned it ever since.  Fairfield branch library opened that year. In 2003 and 2004, $20,000 in County and City funds were used to repaint inside and out.  Despite heavy use and high circulation, the branch closed on October 14, 2005. - Janice Barber, 2008 President, Parkside Association, 2008

See also: William Sydney Wicks House