{"nrhp_refnum":"73002298","name":"St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"125 Pearl St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Buffalo","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":42.88279458350004,"lon":-78.87620109433547,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-03-01","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral is a brown sandstone Gothic-style church at 125 Pearl Street in downtown Buffalo, Erie County, New York, on a triangular lot. It was designed by Richard Upjohn, built 1850-51, and given new interiors by Robert Gibson after a fire in 1888.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the combined work of two noted nineteenth-century architects, Richard Upjohn and Robert Gibson, makes the building architecturally distinctive. Upjohn's asymmetrical design with angled porches solved the problem of a triangular site, and experts regard it as one of his more distinguished designs. It is also significant in the Buffalo cityscape, near other prominent government and commercial buildings.","narrative":"Set on an irregular triangular lot in downtown Buffalo, St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral faces a diagonal axis that contrasts with the regular blocks of offices, banks and public buildings around it. Richard Upjohn's plans were approved in 1849 to replace an earlier wooden church on land donated by the Holland Land Company in 1814. His asymmetrical design, with angled porches, answered the awkward site. The brown sandstone building was consecrated in 1851, and its 274-foot tower and smaller bell tower were completed in the 1870s to his original designs. A fire in 1888 destroyed the interior but left the masonry walls and towers standing. English architect Robert Gibson, who had won the competition for All Saints Cathedral in Albany, designed new interiors in his own style and added a clerestory above the nave. The cathedral is valued both as a distinguished work by two architects and as a landmark within Buffalo's downtown.","period_of_significance":"1850-51; 1888","architect_builder":"Richard Upjohn (original design); Robert Gibson (interiors after the 1888 fire)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, occupied, and in religious use; the interiors were rebuilt after the 1888 fire.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.742347-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/73002298.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002298/029abcf586-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73002298/029abcf586-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Unknown authorUnknown author","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPaulsCathedralBuffalo_c1890_HABS_cropped.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown authorUnknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StPaulsCathedralBuffalo_c1890_HABS_cropped.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317715","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul%27s_Cathedral_(Buffalo,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7591022"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/st-pauls-episcopal-cathedral-73002298/"}