By Mark Scheer
State officials have agreed to add a Falls Street church complex to New York’s Register of Historic Places.
The New York State Board for Historic Preservation on Wednesday announced its decision to recommend Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church to the state and national registers of historic places.
City historian Tom Yots said the move allows state preservation officials to make a formal request to the National Parks Service for placement of the church campus on the National Register. Yots said requests for national designation are generally authorized and he would expect approval from federal preservation officials later this summer.
Both designations would allow the current owners of the complex to take advantage of grant funding and tax credit opportunities in the future. The campus is currently home to Niagara Heritage of Hope and Service, Inc., a nonprofit group that provides educational and community services.
“It’s a wonderful honor,” Yots said. “It shows that the complex was eligible and important. It says a great deal about what the Niagara Falls Historic Preservation Commission did.”
The East Side masonry church, located at 1421 Falls St., opened in 1902. The campus includes an adjacent school, rectory, garage and convent, all of which are covered under the state historic designation.
Holy Trinity was among a handful of churches that were closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese due to dwindling population and a decline in the number of available priests. Under the diocese consolidation plan, Holy Trinity parish was merged with St. Stanislaus, St. George, Our Lady of the Rosary and Our Lady of Lebanon, with St. Stanislaus on Niagara Street being the host site. Members of the Holy Trinity congregation celebrated the final Mass inside the church building on Easter 2008.
Parishioners were successful in obtaining local landmark status for the complex through the city’s Historic Preservation Commission. That distinction provides protection from demolition in the event the church and the surrounding buildings change ownership.
