By Brendan Young:
The Hydraulics
Many if not most Buffalonians are familiar with the fall of the iconic East and West sides, when immigrants, their children, and their children’s children left old neighborhoods for suburbia; their former homes and other buildings often falling victim to the wrecking ball. Few, comparatively speaking, know about the history of the Hydraulics, Buffalo’s oldest industrial district.
Founded in 1827 by the Buffalo Hydraulic Association, the area soon had its own canal and railroad network. The Hydraulics’ astronomical growth and exciting innovation were based on Seneca Street, and with a promising future thousands of Irish immigrants poured into the district, later to be joined by the Germans and Polish.
The Beginning of St. Patrick’s – The Hydraulics Church
The Irish immigrants who took the first jobs in the Hydraulics were for the vast majority, practicing Roman Catholics. Because the nearest church where parishioners could hear sermons and go to confession in English was Old St. Patrick’s Church on Broadway and Ellicott Streets, Bishop John Timon decided to erect a parish for the Hydraulics residents in their own neighborhood and property was purchased on Emslie and Seymour Sts., on the corner of South Division, in 1853.
A small frame building was quickly erected on the northeast corner of the lot. Originally, it was named St. Vincent dePaul Church. Bishop Timon belonged to the Congregation of the Mission, commonly known as the Vincentian Fathers. The Vincentians (who staff Niagara University in Lewiston) were founded by St. Vincent dePaul, to whom Bishop Timon had a strong devotion. Old St. Patrick’s soon closed, and when the Irish Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province began staffing the church in 1858, the parish became known as St. Patrick’s.
Fr. Angelus O’Connor began the construction of the brown Medina sandstone Gothic structure in 1891, and the church was completed under his successor Fr. Dominic Scanlon. A school was built with the latest conveniences of the time and the Franciscans could be, and were proud of their efforts.
Faith in the Hydraulics
St. Patrick’s was a large parish and the church and school thrived through the first decades of the 20th century. A second Catholic church in the Hydraulics, Sacred Heart, was begun to serve the needs of the Germans.
Built in 1875 between Seneca and Swan Streets, the church was purchased by the Larkin Company and renovated in 1911 to become the quickly expanding enterprise’s auditorium. Interestingly, the auditorium itself was razed less than 25 years later in March, 1936 to make way for a parking lot for the erstwhile Larkin department store while the school had already been torn down in 1929. Larkin Co. Inc. ceased operating in the 1940’s.
All that remains of the original Sacred Heart buildings is the rectory. The parish’s permanent complex (church, school, rectory and convent) was built on Emslie Street, near Clinton. It too was very successful.
Change Comes to St. Patrick’s, neighborhood
After two World Wars, the appeal of an easier, less-crowded life, and a radical demographic change, the Hydraulics had slowed down considerably by mid-century. The infamous demolition (for which the city still apologizes) of the Frank Loyd Wright-designed Larkin Administration Building in 1950 was the essential death knell for the Hydraulics; although a considerable number faithfully – or stubbornly – held on to their beloved homes and jobs, seeking to preserve their neighborhood of so many years and familiar lifestyle.
Meanwhile, African Americans moved steadily into the area. Things were quickly changing -for the neighborhood, for business, for the city and for the church. St. Patrick’s opened its doors to the blacks and embraced them, many of the minority-turned-majority converts to the faith.
An African American parishioner named Ronald Walker, was asked by St. Patrick’s pastor in 1970 to consider the newly-forming permanent diaconate program. He was ordained the first black deacon in the Diocese of Buffalo in 1980.
Marco Silvestri, the Paintings
It was perhaps for the 50th anniversary of the church in 1941 or the 100th anniversary of the parish in 1953, that the Franciscans hired a local artist for a special project.
Born in 1904 in the small village of Pacentro in the province of L’Aquila in the Abbruzzo region, Marco Silvestri emigrated to the United States at the age of 17. Living among other Abruzzesi in Buffalo, Silvestri worked as a decorator and painter and he also did work for two other Catholic churches in Buffalo, the former Most Holy Redeemer Church (Genesee St. and Avery Pl. on the Cheektowaga border) and Holy Family Church on Tift St. in South Buffalo.
A series of 14 paintings on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, each measuring 10 by 12 feet, probably Silvestri’s largest commission, were produced and signed “M. Silvestri and Son.” Scenes included Francis’ stripping naked and renouncing all worldly possessions, to the saint’s receiving the stigmata, to his blessing the town of Assisi shortly before his death. They were installed in the church and were admired as a unique addition to St. Patrick’s.
It is unfortunate for the curious and frustrating for the historian, that each scene is undated. The extremely limited archival information still extant, yields no clues and the friars and parishioners of the era are long deceased. Luckily, the types of color that Silvestri used and the quality of the canvas, provides a rough time frame between the 40’s and 50’s
Silvestri went on to paint scenes from the Italian countryside as he remembered from his youth and various Madonna’s. He exhibited these in the early 70’s in the Boulevard Mall.
St. Patrick’s Closed, Traditional Franciscans Visit
In 1981, the Holy Name Province planned to cease staffing St. Patrick’s due to the dwindling number of parishioners and a lack of vocations. Bishop Edward Head decided to close the parish and the final Mass was celebrated on Sunday, December 27, 1981. Marco Silvestri died in January 1975, and was spared the sorrow of seeing the church he did so much for, razed. Demolition was postponed until after winter.
Providentially, in early 1982 a Franciscan priest from Rochester began a weekly visit to Buffalo. Fr. Louis Vezelis offered a Latin Mass every Sunday for a group of traditionalist Catholics, ironically in the previously-mentioned Sacred Heart Church on Emslie St.
The Buffalo Diocese closed Sacred Heart in 1971, selling it to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in
March, 1977. The Ukrainians could not find a personal use for the place, so they rented the church to the traditionalist congregation who did much to improve the sanctuary, essentially stripped shortly after its closing.
Fr. Louis, previously a Lithuanian Franciscan, founded Our Lady of the Angels Friary in 1979 for men who wished to become friars who observed the Latin Mass and the order’s pre-1960’s rules and customs. In the beginning, three young men (soon to be joined by others) moved to Greece, just outside of Rochester to be trained under Fr. Louis who brought them along on the trips to Buffalo. During one of these weekends, Fr. Louis and his friars met with the brother stationed at St. Patrick’s who was responsible for selling the church’s items, before demolition.
Church Fixtures Removed
Various objects from St. Patrick’s were purchased and removed. The church’s bells were taken to St. Martin’s Church in South Buffalo. The pipe organ found a new home in a Baptist church near Rochester. Some of the Frohe stained glass windows were transferred to the friar’s residence on Seymour Street next to the church, others were poorly incorporated into the newly-built St. Francis of Assisi Church in Triangle, VA. Unfortunately, the modernist structure and traditional stained glass did not complement each other well.
Finding the Silvestri paintings particularly interesting because of the connection to St. Francis and his Order which they depicted, Fr. Louis decided to purchase the set. Renting the scaffolding necessary to take them down (the church interior is reported to have been about 70 feet) the friars removed them. Remarkably the Franciscans were successful with each canvas coming off intact, and this with men who had no previous experience.
The paintings were taken down south and stored at St. Joseph’s Mission, the Franciscans’ church in Union, Kentucky. St. Patrick’s was soon demolished and in August of that year Fr. Louis was consecrated a bishop inside Sacred Heart Church. The paintings were kept in the basement for over 25 years, going largely unmentioned for the better part of two decades.
Hydraulics Churches Destroyed
The Ukrainian Orthodox soon gave up the Sacred Heart complex. Witness Cathedral acquired it from the city in 1988, with the encouragement of then-mayor Jimmy Griffin. The new congregation, part of the Church of God in Christ, abandoned the location around 2005.
All buildings dilapidated steadily during their time there. The pastor, Ronald Kirk, has been in and out of Buffalo housing court for years. Following the years of decay and a powerful windstorm in December 2008, the school underwent emergency demolition in early 2009. The future remains frighteningly uncertain for the church, convent and rectory; however demolition seems likely.
All that remains of St. Patrick’s is the friary where Franciscans still live. On the empty lot left by the wrecking ball, are the St. Patrick Village Apartments, low-income housing built in 1995.
Paintings Remembered
In 2007, a student from Buffalo visited with Bishop Louis Vezelis at his Rochester friary. During the course of their conversation, the bishop mentioned the story of the Silvestri paintings. Immediately intrigued, the visitor returned home but dismissing the idea of the paintings ever returning to western New York, quickly forgot about them. As fate would have it, he would become friends with Mary Holland, founder and president of the Buffalo Religious Arts Center. Remembering the unique story, he told Holland about the paintings in early 2010.
In 2009, Bishop Louis had decided to have the paintings brought to his friary from Kentucky. Holland wrote the Franciscans after being told about them, and was told they had come back to New York. After several e-mails over the course of a few months, she accepted the friars’ invitation to come and see the paintings and went on June 21st, 2010 with Henry Swiatek of Swiatek
Studios and a studio employee, meeting there with one of the friars, Bishop Giles Butler.
The Return to Buffalo
Bishop Giles showed them the paintings which because of their size had to be displayed on the lawn in the back yard. Unrolling them, the visitors were surprised to discover their remarkable condition after being removed by the friars (who had no previous similar experience), storage in a Kentucky basement for 27 years, and the journey to Kentucky and back.
Wanting to return the paintings to Buffalo and to preserve this unique collection for the future, Holland purchased them for the Buffalo Religious Arts Center which has since begun the process to clean, restore and eventually exhibit the paintings (tentatively planned for the end of this year).
The Bigger Picture
The story of the Silvestri paintings, among the many horror stories of the demise of Buffalo churches and their objects, is a rare but real success. While St. Patrick’s is long gone and Marco Silvestri deceased, a unique part of the church and the quality work of the artist are now back home and secure.
The Hydraulics district is slowly but surely making a come back. Hundreds of people have already appreciated what is exhibited in the Buffalo Religious Arts Center. This interesting chapter in Buffalo’s religious art history is an inspiration to continue saving the beautiful and unmatchable past as a reminder of what we had, and what we should have. The Silvestri paintings and all of our rich religious art heritage is a proud part of Buffalo.
See more images of the demolition.
Buffalo Religious Arts Center: A museum dedicated to the religious art and heritage of immigrant
Buffalo in the historic St. Francis Xavier Church, a glowing example of
Buffalo Church Architecture and Stained Glass.
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1st photo:
The completed St. Patrick’s Church, ca. 1901.
Photo from souvenir booklet for Bishop Charles Colton’s 1903 Consecration.
Second photo:
St. Francis rebuilds the church at San Damiano, M. Silvestri and Son. (Exact date unknown, photo 2009)
Photo by Bishop Giles Butler.
Third photo:
Demolition of St. Patrick’s Church, 1982.
Photo courtesy of Tina Lewandowski (published on hydraulicspress.com).
Fourth photo:
Paintings are brought into the Buffalo Religious Arts Center, June 21st 2010.
Photo by Mary Holland.