English: A view looking upward at the main façade of Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo, New York, as seen in Mzarch 2015. Situated at the northeast corner of 7th and Maryland Streets on the city's Lower West Side, the reason for the parish's 1914 foundation was the expansion of Buffalo's Italian-American community from its original nucleus - the vicinity of St. Anthony of Padua parish - northward toward Porter Avenue. The congregation met first in the former home of the West Side Presbyterian Church on Busti Avenue (no longer extant) while the current church was under construction on a plot of land formerly owned by the Sisters of Mercy. The church, designed by architect Pascal Cimini and boasting Gothic design elements typical of the architecture of the era, was dedicated in 1915 by Father Nelson Baker, and expansions to the building in 1931 and 1938 increased its capacity to 1,200 parishioners. The interior features numerous statues of the Madonna, many brought by immigrants from their former churches in Italy, as well as mural paintings that are the work of artist Luigi Avoglio.