Fairfield Library

Photo credit: David Steele and Buffalo Rising

Location

Renovated into 5 apartments and some office space. A parking lot was added to a portion of the front lawn.

late 1890s - The building was designed by architect and nearby resident William Sydney Wicks.
1897 - Built for the Unitarian Universalist Church.
1912 - The Unitarian congregation disbanded and sold the building to Parkside Lutheran.
1924 - Parkside Lutheran built a more grand church for themselves at Wallace and Depew in Central Park and sold this building to the City of Buffalo for use as a library.

2005 - Despite being the second busiest neighborhood library branch, it was closed due to county cut-backs in October of 2005 and received little or no maintenance since. Buffalo Rising
2012 - Two proposals for re-use surfaced. The first would have been for a private residence, making the building a landmark, and placing it on the state and national register of historic places. The couple with that proposal stepped out of the running for the building, leaving the second proposal as the winner. Creative Structure Solutions suggested turning it into apartments. Concerns with that plan arose with their opposition to making it a local landmark, along with interest in modifying the exterior and using vinyl windows.
2013 - The building undergoes a $1 million renovation and conversion into apartments. The exterior was not modified as originally proposed, but a parking lot was added on a portion of the lawn.