Corpus Christi R. C. Church Complex, Romanesque Revival church in East Side, Buffalo, United States.
The Corpus Christi R. C. Church Complex is a Roman Catholic church campus on Buffalo's East Side, built from brown Pennsylvania sandstone and designed in the Romanesque Revival style. The complex groups several structures around the main church building, which features rounded arches, thick stone walls, and a heavy, solid appearance.
Corpus Christi was founded in 1907 to serve Polish immigrants settling on Buffalo's East Side at a time when that neighborhood was growing fast. The Franciscans ran the parish for most of its history until the Pauline Fathers took over in 2003.
Masses are still held in Polish at Corpus Christi, making it one of the few places in Buffalo where the language remains in regular public use. Visitors can hear Polish spoken during services and see symbols tied to Polish Catholic devotion throughout the interior.
The complex sits on Buffalo's East Side and is most easily visited on foot once you are in the neighborhood. Checking ahead is a good idea, as access to the interior depends on whether a service is scheduled or the building is otherwise open.
The stained glass windows inside the church were made by Franz Mayer of Munich, a studio that supplied windows to churches across Europe and North America in the early 1900s. Having work from that studio in a neighborhood parish on Buffalo's East Side points to how much the local community was willing to invest in the building.
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