File:Immanuel Lutheran Church, East Aurora, New York - 20230320.jpg

English: Immanuel Lutheran Church, 43 Pine Street at East Fillmore Avenue, East Aurora, New York, March 2023. A work of the Buffalo architectural practice of Shelgren & Whitman, this handsome brick church building is a good example of the firm's trademark conservative take on Modernism, with just a hint of a Gothic Revival aesthetic (palpable above all in the narrowness of the central window above the entrance) shining through in what's otherwise the usual midcentury affair of sleek lines, simplified forms, and austere ornamentation. The sanctuary was designed to mesh with the more orthodox Gothicism of the parish house, an earlier portion of the complex that's visible in the background at left. Dating to 1879 and originally named Salem, this was the first Lutheran congregation to set up shop in the village of East Aurora, tending to the spiritual needs of a small community of mostly German-American ethnic stock. They purchased the present-day site in 1882 and erected a small wood-frame chapel that served their needs for half a century, but the flock remained small (and the church at times almost moribund) until the arrival of the Rev. Victor H. Neeb in 1930. This energetic young pastor reinvigorated the congregation, which he rechristened with its present name and for which he charted out a two-phase building plan. The aforementioned parish house was the first portion to be built, dedicated in 1933 and containing a small chapel that was to serve the church's needs on a temporary basis. Further construction was forestalled by the financial turmoil of the Great Depression and the halt of the civilian construction industry during World War II, but once those calamities were safely in the rear-view mirror, planning began anew and ground was broken in October 1954 for the 300-seat sanctuary seen here. Additionally, Sunday school classrooms, a fellowship hall, church offices, and a kitchen were planned for installation in the basement. The construction process lasted 11 months and cost $120,000. Immanuel remains today an active congregation affiliated with the Missouri Synod of Lutheranism.