File:Christian Education Building, First Church of Evans, Evans, New York - 20230330.jpg

English: A view of the Christian Education Building at the First Church of Evans, 7431 Erie Road at Sturgeon Point Road, Evans, New York, as seen in March 2023. A work of architect Olaf Shelgren, Jr., senior partner in the Buffalo firm of Shelgren, Patterson & Marzec, this three-story, flat-roofed addition to the "Community Clubhouse" was the last element of this NRHP-listed church complex to have been built. Comprising twelve Sunday school classrooms, a lunchroom, and a nursery that together accommodate 400 children, it was appended to the north and east side of the church's "Community Clubhouse": a sort of king-sized fellowship hall that, in this small rural community, has traditionally been "a factor of tremendous importance in [local] life". Though the Modernist influence is obvious, its Colonial-inspired detailing of its design still allows it to mesh respectably well with the 1915-vintage sanctuary and other older structures in the complex, an attention to harmony and respect of history that was a hallmark of Shelgren's work. Notice the nods to Classicism: a symmetrical façade perforated by regularly spaced, shutter-framed eight-over-eight sash windows, projecting cornices crowning both the main exterior wall and the entrance vestibule at right, and the handsome architrave and cast-iron sconces that adorn the entrance. Ground was broken in August 1965 on the $170,000 construction project that also included renovations to the existing portion of the clubhouse as well as an expansion of the parking lot; construction lasted fourteen months and culminated in a dedication ceremony chaired by Dr. David F. Cox, executive of the Buffalo and Erie County Council of Churches. Founded in 1818 and helmed first by the Rev. John Spencer, a Presbyterian minister who commuted from Buffalo on an occasional basis, the First Church of Evans met initially in a converted log-cabin schoolhouse, then purchased its present property from the Holland Land Company and erected their first purpose-built church about 1835. Their present building was a replacement after the original was lost to fire, and was designed by the Buffalo firm of Mann & Cook to be as faithful a replica of its predecessor as possible. The Community Clubhouse to which the building in this photo was attached was originally a barn belonging to local farmer Malcolm Ingersoll, whose adjacent property was purchased by the church in 1912. The First Church of Evans is still an active congregation, but disaffiliated itself from Presbyterianism in 1910 and is now a nondenominational Christian church affiliated with the International Council of Community Churches.