Blessed Trinity’s Sacred Sites Open House
Saturday, May 17, 2025
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Blessed Trinity Church is happy to participate in the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s fifteenth annual statewide Sacred Sites Weekend, with its theme of Building for Eternity: Religious Architecture and Artisans. Reflecting on the restoration and reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Conservancy rightly points out that “New York State’s religious buildings are a remarkable repository of artistry and craftsmanship,” and invites New Yorkers to explore them “without needing a passport.”
And no one will be checking Real ID at Blessed Trinity. Visitors will be transported to northern Italy and travel back more than 800 years as they encounter one of the purest examples of 12th Century Lombard Romanesque-style architecture in the U.S., but very much “made in America.”
Designed by architects Chester Oakley and Albert Schallmo, the church was “[built] for eternity” between 1923 and 1928 by a working-class congregation of primarily German and Irish immigrants at a cost of $513,000. In 1976, while valuing it at $4.25 million, a commercial appraisal company lamented that it could not be reproduced because “similar craftsmen needed to do the work are no longer available.” More recently, its uniqueness was recognized by Director Alejandro Monteverde who chose it as a setting for scenes in Angel Studios “Cabrini,” the 2024 biopic of St. Frances Cabrini.
Welcoming docents will identify some of the local artisans who created this masterpiece and help you appreciate the building’s outstanding features: handmade bricks produced and set in a medieval fashion; the large-scale use of ceramics including an elaborate display of medieval iconography on the terra cotta portico; and more than 2,000 symbols summarizing Christian beliefs in paintings, sculpture, mosaic floor tiles, metal and woodworking.
Come see for yourself on Saturday, May17, 2025. from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Located at 317 Leroy Avenue (between Fillmore & Grider), the Landmark church is wheelchair accessible with ample off-street parking.
Other participating WNY houses of worship include:
The Buffalo Religious Arts Center, Saturday, 12 Noon – 3 p.m.
Central Park United Methodist, Saturday, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Corpus Christi R.C. Church, Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Temple Beth Zion, Sunday, 1 – 4 p.m.
Historic Holy Trinity Church, Niagara Falls, NY, Sunday, 12 Noon – 3 p.m.
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Medina, NY, Saturday, 2 – 4 p.m.