5 WNY sites nominated for National Register of Historic Places

Five sites in Western New York, including three in Buffalo, have been recommended for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.

Buffalo locations include the Austin Street Police Athletic League Center, the city’s first PAL Center, originally built as a fire station in 1894; Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Convent, 198 Emslie Street, built in 1914, abandoned in 2008 and currently undergoing rehabilitation; and Commercial Row at Broadway and Michigan Avenue with buildings dating from the 1840s to the 1890s in the African American heritage corridor.

Other nominations in the area include the Nies Block, a large Italian-style mixed-use commercial structure built in 1891 in the heart of Salamanca; and the former Oakfield High School in the center of the Genesee County village, which became School House Manor Apartments in 1981.

Once the recommendations are approved by the State Commissioner of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, they are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.