Lourdes on Main Street - Part IV

I walked around Lourdes Church on Main Street this afternoon (google map).

Lourdes Church - Main Street view

Lourdes is now open on every side. Previous posts and pics clearly show that the windows in the rear and side have been open for years. According to neighbors that I spoke with, damaging winds recently blew the boards off the prominent Main Street windows. Interior pics from September 2008 show a church stripped of any traces of architectural detail and stained glass.

Lourdes Church - rear basement windows

Today's slide show of Lourdes Church.

An entity controlled by local developer and New York State gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino purchased Lourdes church last month for $40,000. The future of this Main Street landmark remains uncertain.

Lourdes Church - side view

Buffalo Rising is carrying this story today - House of the Hole-y.

Related posts:

• Lourdes on Main Street - For Sale, again (1/8/10)
• Lourdes Auction - Follow Up (9/13/08)
• Lourdes Auction (9/08/08)

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Kaleida/UB - February 2010

One of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in the City is well underway. This $500m project is the latest edition to the City's medical campus and and frames the southern portion of this neighborhood here at the corner of Ellicott and Goodrich. To the north is Canisius College and the City's largest preservation district - the Hamlin Park Preservation District.

Late last week the building's structural steel frame was beginning to take shape.

Just around the corner and sandwiched between the Medical Corridor and Canisius/Hamlin Park are two of the City's most significant development opportunities. Lourdes church on Main Street and St. Vincent's Asylum are both located steps away from the area's unprecedented investment. While 'demolition by neglect' may be the only current plan, the future of both spaces remains uncertain.

See the Kaleida Archive for additional information, pics and posts.

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Lourdes on Main Street - For Sale, again

fixBuffalo readers may remember the auction here at Lourdes - September 2008 - when dozens of people gathered to glimpse and gawk at the devastated interior for the first time since the Catholic Diocese first closed the doors in 1993. Fast forward fifteen months and this amazing architectural gem is now available again.

This view, from the City's Ellicott Street parking ramp shows the missing south facing window. The boards covering the front window opening - no stained glass here - were missing as of yesterday.

Fred Occhino from Hunt Real Estate has recently listed 1115 Main Street at $199K. In a phone conversation yesterday afternoon Fred said the owner may consider holding a mortgage. With the staggering level of investment happening in the Medical Corridor only blocks away with the construction of the Kaleida/UB Global Vascular Institute - $500M - and the City Honors reconstruction - $40M - two blocks east, the future of Lourdes remains uncertain. Between Downtown and Ferry Street Lourdes is one of the last boarded buildings on Main Street, for now.

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Buffalo's Packard

The Packard's emergence as a neighborhood anchor and a new Midtown residence has been amazing to watch. I first heard about the Packard's sale between Cash Cunningham and Regan Development two years ago from Pyramid broker and neighborhood advocate Bob Bininiszkiewicz. What I didn't know about the deal was that Cash had purchased the site in 1997 at the City's tax sale for $20K!

photo courtesy of Cash Cunningham

1325 Main Street was designed by Albert Kahn in 1926. Kahn designed many of Packard Motor Car Company's buildings including Buffalo's first Ford factory - the Tri-Main. The Packard's black metal conical water tank - with 'Packard Motor Cars" in historic script done in white over a red hexagon, a symbol that appeared on original Packard wheel discs - has long been a fixture here in Midtown. Here's a link to the National Register Application for additional details about the building's architectural, historic and industrial significance.

There are 40 new residences with exposed concrete piers and tall ceilings. These are very cool spaces. New York State's Division of Housing & Community Renewal released the following today about the Packard - good news! One block away Artspace occupies the recently renovated industrial building that once housed the Buffalo Electric Vehicle Company where electric cars were manufactured in the early 20th century.

The neighborhood is also home to Lourdes Church and St. Vincent's where the future of both iconic structures remains uncertain.

Here's a short flickr series - The Packard.

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Boards at Artspace - How Long?

Aside from Lourdes Church, this is the only building boarded on Main Street in Midtown.

Artspace bought 1217 Main Street in March 2006 for $50,000. A year later they had some problems with building permits here and with falling bricks. Two and half years later and it's still boarded. Why?

Always thought an art-centric incubator like this would be amazing upstairs, coffee shop or vodka bar down. Any other ideas out there?

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Shooting the City

It's not often that you meet someone that helps you really shift what you see. This past summer I met a retired professor who reminded me about the value of perspective, how we see things. I've reflected on that meeting so often since and holding that lesson rather dear I ventured out the other day looking for a vantage point, a different place to see what I've seen hundreds of times - this Midtown neigborhood. I walked into a parking ramp, climbed the stairs and started shooting.

Here's our Lady of Lourdes, on Main Street. fixBuffalo readers may remember the recent auction at Lourdes this past September - right here.

Sort of crazy shot, right? Slightly odd, visiting a parking ramp with out a car. Anway...this afternoon I unexpectedly met up with the person who introduced me to that professor and we revisited the same lesson about perspective, vantage points - seeing the city as co/conspirators - and the importance of witnessing this place, our city, hemmorage and slowly maybe slowly piece its way back together from the brink. We need to be deliberate.

Meanwhile, I'll be visiting a few other parking ramps on the City's east side and keeping track of my ramp shots. As I compose my shots I will be remembering those lessons and words I heard this summer and again this afternoon.

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Church Auction - Follow up

I entered Our Lady of Lourdes for the first time shortly before 11am this morning. I was speechless.

Update - May 18, 2010
Lourdes on Main Street - Part IV

After walking around for a few minutes and taking the following pics - see slide show - I heard Cash Cunningham read the terms of sale and a few minutes later the auction opened at $100,000. After reminding the 50 people in attendance that the location of Our Lady of Lourdes is unique - sandwiched between the medical corridor and new development on Main Street including Artspace - the auction very quickly bottomed out at $25,000, with only one person bidding.

It's not clear at this time what the new owner has planned for the church. What is clear is that 15 years of neglect, on every possible level, has ruined an amazing architectural and cultural treasure.

See: Part I

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Church Auction - Main Street

This Saturday at 11am Our Lady of Lourdes will be auctioned. Here the details from Cash Cunningham's site.

Auction Follow-Up - with interior photos

Our Lady of Lourdes was one of the first Catholic Churches sold off by the Diocese back in the 90's and is located on Main Street just a few blocks south of Artspace, at Best Street. I noticed this afternoon that at least one of the boards securing a window in the church's apse had been removed.

George Thomas Apfel, a former Lourdes parishoner, has provided additonal details about the church and the social history of the parish - here and here in two recent Buffalo Rising posts. Additional pics are available here on his website.

According to City of Buffalo records, the current owner purchased the property three years ago for $65,000. When I peeked through the front door, the interior looked like a disaster. A number of long time residents next door told me that the place has been vacant for at least 15 years.

Make sure to check out the 10 additional real property auctions that Cash is holding here in Buffalo and Lackawanna on Saturday, September 13th.

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Church and State...

One of the most complex stories emerging in this week's Buffalo News is on-going and seemingly inevitable story of another round of church closings. Especially hard hit in this second round of closings - is the City's East side.

Still no plans to sell the big house!

The first article includes Council President David Franczyk's "ethnic cleansing" resolution that was unanimously passed by the Common Council.

Common Council members Wednesday criticized the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo for its plan to close a number of city churches and schools, some of the lawmakers contending that it abandons city neighborhoods and appears “to have the whiff of ethnic cleansing.”

The second article - appearing in today's Buffalo News with the diocesan "outrage (yawn) and response" is also archived.

David Franczyk was on the WBEN Tom Bauerle show this morning - here's a 12 minute clip, David Franczyk. Kevin Keenen, Diocesan talking head responds, right here.

Remember the first wave of closings was in the mid 90's with Transfiguration (falling down), St. Matthew's (flipped), Our Lady of Lourdes (closed), St. Lukes (saved), St. Mary's (saved) and St. Benedict the Moor (demolished). St. Frances de Sales (in transition).

Remember this? The height of Catholic Buffalo, 1947 - right here! And while Bishop Kmiec closes City Churches, he's built one, right here - Inside our newest McChurch!

Make sure to check out the new Buffalo News archive - Downsizing the Diocese...

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