File:Buffalo Catholic Institute Library Building, Main Street and Virginia Street, Allentown, Buffalo, NY - 52641139558.jpg

English: Built in 1898, this Beaux Arts-style commercial building was built to house the Buffalo Catholic Institute Library, which was open to the public, and was established in 1872. Prior to the building’s construction, the former Buffalo Medical College building stood on the site from 1849 until the early 1890s. The building features a cream roman brick exterior, rooftop balustrade, cornice with brackets and dentils, a curved corner at the street intersection, terra cotta trim, decorative trim surrounds at the windows including headers, with one featuring a broken pediment, quoins, arched windows in the three center bays of the third floor facade, with decorative recessed spandrels between the second and third floor windows in the three middle bays of the east and north facades, with partially fluted ionic engaged columns flanking each of the three window bays, retails shopfronts on the first floor separated by fluted doric engaged columns and doric pilasters, and stained glass clerestory windows at the outer bays of the third floor of the north and east facades. The building presently houses the Buffalo branch of the Church of Scientology, which undertook a rehabilitation of the building in 2003 under the direction of Foit-Albert and Associates, preserving many historic features while updating the building with modern spaces for its new use. The building is a contributing structure in the Allentown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.