Preservation of the First Church building is largely handled by One Symphony Circle, Inc.

The mission of One Symphony Circle is to assure the ongoing preservation, restoration, and maintenance of the registered historic landmark building located at One Symphony Circle as a community asset for future generations.

One Symphony Circle is much more than a mission statement. It is the natural outgrowth of the commitment the congregation and the community has made to securing the future of this iconic E.B. Green-designed First Church building and tower. It is the vehicle put in place—the foundation laid—to ensure that happens.

To understand how One Symphony Circle, Inc., came about is to understand the need it exists to meet and some history:

The building and tower at One Symphony Circle are a huge component of not only the congregation's identity, but of the community's identity and of the shared landscape with our neighbor Kleinhans Music Hall. It serves as a bonding agent for many of the members of the congregation who come from diverse backgrounds and diverse locations. It is woven into the fabric of what it means to be a member of First Church.

Over the past decade, the pressing need of building repairs necessary for preservation and the capital cost of those repairs had been the source of deep soul-searching for the congregation and Session leadership at First Church.

The question has been, how does First Presbyterian Church continue to live out their mission while taking on the huge time, energy, and financial requirements of preserving and maintaining the building they feel so blessed to call home? How do they continue to provide important programming and services for a community of ever-increasing need while spending finite money and time resources on structural repair concerns?

After much searching, the answer for First Church was clear: to unconditionally commit. Thus, the formation of One Symphony Circle, Inc. The strategic creation of One Symphony Circle as an independent and secular corporation invites all of Buffalo into a greater and more intimate relationship with a building that has been part of our shared identity for so long. One Symphony Circle invites the community to take an active role in ownership and become joint stewards in this cultural and historic asset as an integral component to the fabric of the community.

In doing so, One Symphony Circle has become a community collaboration that will allow us to keep this great cultural asset and inspire us further to embrace our history, reclaim our greatness, and take part in the resurgence of Buffalo, our great city.

Make a donation to One Symphony Circle’s preservations efforts.