The New York Landmarks Conservancy announced $250,000 worth of grants awarded to 22 historic religious properties across the state, including two in Western New York.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo will receive $12,000 to help fund project management for chancel stained-glass window restoration. St. John’s Episcopal Church in Youngstown will get $3,000 to help pay for roof and gutter repairs, as well as foundation repointing.
“Our grants help maintain historic religious institutions that often anchor their communities,” Conservancy President Peg Breen said in a news release. “Our recent grantees have food, cultural and outreach programs that reach well beyond their congregations.”
Trinity Episcopal, built between 1869 and 1905 – when Buffalo developed into a fast-growing, major industrial city – contains stained glass and interior decoration by American decorative-arts master John La Farge. The congregation houses nonprofit programs for the Buffalo Urban League, Gay & Lesbian Youth Services, the Greater Buffalo United Accountable Healthcare Network, Massachusetts Avenue Project and others. Its visitor center provides tours of the stained glass windows.
St. John’s, completed in 1878, is one of few Gothic Revival-style, board-and-batten churches in the region. The congregation was established in 1759 at Fort Niagara. Church members today are heavily involved in mission work and community events.
The Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Program provides congregations with matching grants for planning and carrying out restoration projects. It has provided 1,600 grants since 1986 – totaling almost $15 million – to 840 religious institutions statewide.
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