English: Central Park United Methodist Church, as seen from Morris Avenue just west of Beard Avenue, Buffalo, New York, May 2020. A massive structure of Indiana limestone, Boston architect Charles W. Bolton chose the Perpendicular Gothic style not only because it was a popular one in ecclesiastical architecture at the time of its construction (1923), but also as an homage to the parish churches of Medieval England, which served as centers of their community just as it was hoped this one would. The tower is the central feature of the building, aligned with the corner of Morris and Beard avenues so as to draw the eye to it upon entering. The stained glass was the product of the Montague Castle-London Company of New York. Considered the "cathedral church of Methodism in Buffalo", the congregation traces its history to 1892, when the
Richmond Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church established a Sunday school to minister to residents of the newly developed and quickly growing Central Park neighborhood, which met at the private home of one of its members. Two years later, said quick neighborhood growth necessitated the establishment of a full-fledged church, whence their
first church building, located a block away on the corner of Main and Morris and in which they worshiped until 1921. That building was later purchased by the
First Free Methodist Church and moved to another location in Hamlin Park. The church was named a Buffalo Landmark in 1978.