St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church

Share This Page On Social Media

Comments? Corrections? Send us a message about this building

  AT RISK     HIGH RISK  




April 2007
Photo credit: David Torke fixBuffalo

1066 East Ferry Street, Buffalo NY 14211

Owner

  • The Way Christian Community

Physical Description

  • Romanesque style church (170'x80') built with Ohio sandstone

Current Condition

  • Abandoned

History

  • 1908 - Rev. George Sellinger founds the parish. A small church/school combo was constructed (at what appears to be a different unspecified location).
  • June 1910 - An extremely rare tornado destroyed the original building.
  • 1911-1923 - The nunnery, rectory, and school where built, while early parishioners worshiped in the basement until the necessary funds were raised to complete the church
  • 1928 - The church was completed for $225,000.
  • March 3, 1993 - The last mass was held at St. Matthew’s .
  • 1998 - Catholic Diocese split the property and sold the church building for $22,000 to World Wide Bible Deliverance Inc., a religious group that also failed to maintain the building
History courtesy BuffaloAH - James Napora, Houses of Worship

Recent Events and Actions Taken

  • 2006 - Church acquired at public tax auction by Scott Weinstein and David Serotta of Williamsville as RE/DEAL PARTNER LLC for $3,500 and quickly listed on eBay. Photographer/blogger David Torke alerted the City's anti-flipping Task Force, which persuaded the owner to halt the listing.
  • 2009 - Frank Beard acquired the property (at what sounds to be no cost) for a community center.
  • 2011 - Without a job, Beard fell thousands of dollars behind on taxes. He scrapped the radiators to cover the cost of paint and lights. He also stripped the copper flashing from the roof, which can result in thousands of dollars in damage for just $50 in scrap value.
  • 2013 - The church fell back into the tax auction process and was acquired for $4,000 by Keith Ware of the Way Christian Community.
  • 2016 - The church was again listed in the city's yearly tax auction, but went unsold.
  • October 2017 - Church is currently listed as an available property at this year's tax auction (list is subject to change until auction begins).
Recent Events courtesy Buffalo Story Project, Buffalo Rising, & PRS

Other Pertinent Facts

  • St. Matthew’s is modeled after the Cathedral of Aachen in Aachen, Germany.

Links


Newest Pages

■ 21 Anderson Place ■ 2505 Main Street ■ Buffalo Skyway ■ 50 West Avenue ■ 21 Penfield Street ■ 190 South Park Avenue ■ 282 East Delavan Avenue ■ 273 East Delavan Avenue ■ 281 East Delavan Avenue ■ 268 East Delavan ■ 268 East Delavan ■ 278 East Delavan Avenue ■ 52 Grape Street ■ 50 Grape Street ■ 1185 Jefferson Avenue ■ 1443 Clinton Street ■ 1628 Elmwood Avenue ■ 155 Marion Street ■ 1634 Elmwood Avenue ■ 668 Amherst Street ■ 666 Amherst Street ■ 194 Brinkman Avenue - Front & back houses ■ 198 Brinkman Avenue ■ 200 Brinkman Avenue ■ 210 Brinkman Avenue ■ 246 Brinkman Avenue ■ 258 Brinkman Avenue ■ 270 Brinkman Avenue ■ 284 Brinkman Avenue ■ 278 Brinkman Avenue

Added 2017-07-25 • Last changed 2017-07-26

Buffalo | Buildings At Risk | Buildings | CC | Demo By Neglect | East Side | High Risk | Incomplete Pages | Religious Buildings