St. Anthony of Padua (1891)

This location is part of Preservation Buffalo-Niagara’s Downtown SCVNGR Trek.  Play SCVNGR to learn about Buffalo’s rich architectural heritage, earn badges and win prizes at participating venues.  Download the SCVNGR app and start playing today!

Designed in a reserved Florentine Gothic Style, St. Anthony of Padua was the center of a bustling Italian community once located were the current Shoreline Apartments (designed by Paul Rudolph) currently stand.  Demolished under Mayor Sedita (who came from this neighborhood), the loss of this community and others like it in the downtown region throughout the mid- to late twentieth century has become emblematic of the difficult times that the city faced during these decades, and the arguably misdirected response of local business and government leaders in their attempt to stem exurban migration, and reinvigorate downtown businesses.  Today, only St. Anthony’s remains of this once vibrant Italian community, a monument to the former diversity of the downtown area, and of its complex, and sometimes tragic, history.