Featured Historic Site

Trinity Episcopal Church is historically and architecturally significant as a distinguished religious complex reflecting the growth of Buffalo and new developments in the areas of art and architecture in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The church complex is nationally significant as the site of a seminal program of opalescent glass and interior decoration by American master John La Farge. His work in Trinity’s new church achieved national acclaim and reintroduced the artist as a national leader in the expressive use of layered and intricately leaded art glass. One of La Farge’s later Trinity Church windows was displayed at an international exposition that reinforced the American role in this art form.

Begun in 1869 with the construction of the Gothic Revival-style Christ Chapel, the complex became best known for its larger, more prominent Victorian Gothic Church built between 1884 and 1886. The chapel was designed by Arthur Gilman and the 1886 church was a reworking of Gilman’s earlier plans by Buffalo architect Cyrus Porter. John La Farge produced an ambitious program of opalescent glass and interior decoration for the new church executed between 1885 and 1886. Additional windows were produced and installed by La Farge along with others by Tiffany Studios, William Gibson, Hardman and Company, and Mayer Studios of Munich between 1887 and 1897. The result was a church that evolved into an exceptional example of Victorian taste in art and architecture at the hands of several of the period’s finest designers. In 1905, a new parish house was designed and built for the complex by the nationally prominent firm of Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson. Bertram Goodhue returned to Buffalo in 1913 to redesign the interior of the 1869 chapel with a combination of Gothic and Arts and Crafts inspired design and decoration. The rare combination of extraordinary talents produced a complex of buildings that resulted in a distinctive and cohesive ensemble of art and architecture of remarkable quality and unity. The Trinity Church parish is an admirable steward of this heritage and continues to advance the restoration of both the building and its decorative program.