File:Ascension RC Church - fmr Sacred Heart RC Church - Batavia, New York - 20210103.jpg

English: Ascension Roman Catholic Church, 135 South Swan Street at Sumner Street, Batavia, New York, January 2021. Erected in 1954, this modest-scaled church building is a work of Buffalo architect Frank Mazurowski, who in his design combines elements of the Colonial Revival and Gothic Revival styles, both in the simplified versions that were common in the mid-20th century: the latter is exemplified by the pointed arched crowning the windows and front entrance, while the former turns up in the roofs, whose gable returns at the base suggest broken pediments. Though the building is relatively new, the parish is significantly longer-standing: it was founded in 1904 under the name Sacred Heart in order to cater to the Polish-American community in Batavia, which unbeknownst to many is among the oldest in Western New York, dating to the arrival of Henry I. Glowacki in the 1830s. At Sacred Heart's original location on Jackson Street, Mass was held in a converted house and a barn was converted for use as a school; this setup actually lasted for half a century, when the low-lying property was finally vacated due to persistent flooding. This was, however, the site of one of the area's first recorded observances of the Polish folk holiday of Dyngus Day, in 1914. In 2007, as part of the Journey in Faith and Grace consolidation program, Sacred Heart merged with the traditionally Italian-American parish of St. Anthony, taking on its present name.