St. Paul's

St. Paul's - Table of Contents

Illustrated History - St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral
139 Pearl Street, Buffalo, NY

Illustrations - Below dates

Important Dates:

1821 - Original wooden St. Paul's Episcopal Church consecrated - the first permanent church building in Buffalo (land donated by Holland Land Co.)
1850 - German society buys the building and moves it to Genesee and Hickory Sts. (replaced in 1877)
1851 - St. Paul's Episcopal Church -- designed by Richard Upjohn -- erected
Upjohn is considered the greatest American Gothic church designer in America. His most famous work is Trinity Church in New York City, but his biographer reports that Upjohn considered St. Paul's his best work.
1866 - Chosen as the Episcopal Cathedral for the Diocese of Western New York
1870 - Spires on the two towers were finished
1883 - The Rev. Dr. William Shelton dies, having served St. Paul's as rector (1829-1881), as later as rector emeritus (1881-1883) when he retired. The high altar and the pulpit are memorials to him, and Shelton Square bore his name until Cathedral park was built in 1970, but the church building itself is his chief and lasting memorial.
1888 - On Ascension day, May 10, a gas explosion and resulting fire destroys interior, but Upjohn's stone walls remained solid.
"Owing to excessive unregulated pressure in the natural-gas pipes, a number of explosions occur: one of them, in the basement of St. Paul's Episcopal Church causes a fire which leaves only the towers and walls standing; loss estimated at $100,000 (Photo); many gas meters in other buildings explode and several small fires occur, but no other serious damage is reported." - "Pictorial Year-Book and Calendar," 1888." From the Buffalo Express. Buffalo: Matthews, Northrup, & Co., p. 20 (online)

Dr. Israel, Rabbi of Temple Beth Zion, offers the free use of the Temple on Sundays until the church can be rebuilt
1890 - Church -- designed by Robert W. Gibson -- reconstructed.
Gibson uses stone instead of wood for structural parts, retaining the original walls and introducing minor changes to the exterior, but making the interior more substantial, spacious, and ornamental.
Gibson was born in England in 1854. Trained at the Royal Academy of Art in London, he came the United States in 1881 and set up as a practicing architect in Albany.
1970 - Shelton Square and Swan Street block changed to Cathedral Park
1970 - Erie Savings Bank demolished for Main Place Mall and Tower
1987 - The Cathedral is designated a National Historic Landmark
This designation is the highest a humanly made structure, a significant place, or an archeological site can achieve in the United States.
1988 - The Cathedral interior is redecorated and new lighting installed; the chancel organ is rebuilt

Click on photos for larger size -- and additional information


St. Paul's Church on left and "Old First" on right.	St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church as it appeared in 1849	Sketch Site Plan on the triangular sloping site	St. Paul's before the spires were built in 1870

"The churches," as they appeared in the early 1880s.	"Old First" Presbyterian Church on right.	Erie Street, Terrace Market and Buffalo Harbor.	An early view of the common in front of the churches (St. Paul's and "Old First").

Behind St. Paul's: Guaranty Building;	Shelton Square, named after the Eminent Rev. William Shelton	Pres. McKinley's funeral cortege passes St. Paul's	Washington Street Baptist Church (left)

Guaranty Building; Erie Savings Bank (demolished)	Rev. William Shelton	Rev. Dr. Shelton	Ellicott Square Building; The Guaranty Building
		For more information, see History of St. Paul's published by the church

1888 fire.
Source: "The Picture Book of Earlier Buffalo," Severance, Frank H., ed. Buffalo Historical Society, Vol. 16, 1912, p 115

Source: 1905 Buffalo of Today: Domestic and Industrial

Note fence

Hulberton Sandstone at St. Paul's

St. Paul’s would need a lot of stone for the cavernous Gothic revival church in the heart of Buffalo. Henry Streater represented the church and went looking for sandstone. He found it in Hulberton [about 20 miles from Medina, NY].

Streater bought about 3.5 acres at $80 an acre from Samuel Copeland, according to St. Paul’s church records. It was the first quarry in Hulberton.

The church opened at 128 Pearl St. in 1851, but wasn’t quite done. The 300-foot-high spire was finished in 1870, and used stone from a different Hulberton quarry owned by Alfred Squire.

Although Upjohn, the church designer, initially favored limestone, [Church historian Martha] Neri said the Medina sandstone has proven remarkably durable and was an excellent choice for the cathedral. On May 10, 1888, the church was nearly destroyed by fire. Only the outer Medina sandstone walls and spires remained.

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The curved columns in the sanctuary also are made of Medina sandstone.

The church has numerous stained-glass windows that are framed by sandstone. The window over the altar, which shows Christ’s ascension, was made by the Henry Holliday and Company of London. The 11 disciples are also depicted.

The pulpit was carved from Medina sandstone.

- Tom Rivers, Sandstone Honor Roll: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo, NY (online June 2013)

Special thanks to Martha Neri for research assistance

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