Download New York City Sacred Sites Open Doors in Statewide Event

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact:
Eirik Omlie
Publications Manager
The New York Landmarks Conservancy
New York, NY 10004
Tel: 212.995.5260 / Fax: 212.995.5268
[email protected]
New York City Sacred Sites Open Doors in Statewide Event
56 congregations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island
among 140 congregations participating
New York, NY (Thursday, May 19) Landmark churches and synagogues from the five
boroughs are participating in a “Sacred Sites Open House Weekend” May 21 and 22 when
they will open their doors to their communities. The 56 New York City congregations are part
of more than 140 congregations participating statewide.
The weekend will introduce people to remarkable art and architecture they would not normally
visit and allow the congregations to discuss their history, cultural programming and social
service programs that benefit the wider community.
“These are some of the most beautiful buildings in our communities. They tell our history, they
show developments in art and architecture, and anchor their neighborhoods with cultural and
social programs that benefit beyond their congregations. The Open House Weekend is a
wonderful opportunity to be a tourist in your own town,” said Peg Breen, president of The New
York Landmarks Conservancy.
The weekend is part of a year-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of The New York
Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites program. Sacred Sites is the only statewide program
in the country offering grants and technical help to landmark religious institutions. The program
has given 1141 grants of more than $7 million to congregations of all denominations. The grants
have leveraged total restoration and repair project costs of more than $500 million.
The congregations participating to date are:
Manhattan:
• Brotherhood Synagogue is housed in an Anglo-Italinate, 1859, former Quaker Meeting
House on Gramercy Park: 28 Gramercy Park South, May 22nd 1pm-4pm
• Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest Cathedral in the world, dates from 1892:
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, 112th Street, May 21st 7am-6pm and May 22nd 7am-6pm with
1pm “Symbolism” Tour and Tom Sheehan Organ recital at 5:15pm
• Christ and St. Stephen's Church, built in 1880, was originally a satellite chapel of the
Church of the Transfiguration on East 29th Street, which is also participating 122 W. 69th
Street, May 21st 12pm-2:30pm and May 22nd 12pm-2pm
• Church of the Ascension, a National Historic Landmark designed by Upjohn in 1841,
features a magnificent 1880’s interior designed by Stanford White: 5th Ave. at 10th
Street, May 22nd 1pm-4pm.
• Church of the Holy Trinity, an 1897 church featuring one of New York’s most beautiful
towers 316 E. 88th Street 10am-5pm and May 22 8am-2pm tour at 12:30 pm
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Church of the Incarnation, built in 1864, features some of the finest ecclesiastical artwork
in America, including stained-glass windows designed by William Morris, Edward BurneJones, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and John LaFarge: 209 Madison Ave., May 22 8am-1pm
& 4:30pm-6pm
Crenshaw Christian Center East, designed by the noted architectural firm of Carrere &
Hastings (architects of the New York Public Library) in the finest tradition of Beaux Arts
Classicism and built in 1903, this large granite building was the first structure built for
Christian Science worship in New York, and was purchased by Crenshaw Christian
Center East in July of 2004: 1 W. 96th Street May 21 and may 22, 1pm -4pm
Ebenezer Gospel Tabernacle Church illustrates Harlem’s dynamic history. Built in 18891891, this was the third Unitarian church in New York City and the only one located north
of 34th Street. In 1919, the building was sold to a congregation of largely poor Orthodox
Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. In 1942, the building was sold to an AfricanAmerican congregation. The present congregation restored the slate and terra cotta tile
roof in 2001-2002.: 225 Malcom X Blvd. May 21 12pm-2pm
Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration Also known as the “Little Church Around the
Corner,” the church consists of several Gothic Revival structures around a courtyard.
Frederick Clarke Wither's English-inspired lych-gate makes the church and its
surrounding one of most picturesque and charming of any in New York. It obtained its
sobriquet in 1870, when a minister of a nearby church declined to conduct a funeral
service for an actor, sending the mourners to 'the little church around the corner.': 1 E.
29th Street, May 21 10am-4pm and May 22 1pm-3pm.
Grace Church: A National Historic Landmark dating from 1846, Grace Church in New
York is an exceptional example of Gothic Revival architecture and is one of the master
works of architect James Renwick, Jr. 802 Broadway, May 21st 1pm-5pm and May
22nd 1pm-5pm
Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation was designed by the architectural firm of
Heins & LaFarge, (the first architects of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine), and
constructed in 1893-1894 as the Fourth Presbyterian Church. An iconostasis and other
liturgical furnishings were added to the interior in 1953 when the building was acquired
by Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.: 302 W. 91st Street
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, built on Central park West in 1903, was designed by
Schickel & Ditmars. Much of the ornamentation, particularly the rose window tracery
and the metal fleche, is based on French medieval prototypes.: 3 W. 65th Street
Holyrood Church, designed by Bannister and Schell and constructed in 1904, recently
completed comprehensive restoration of its slate roof and elaborate terra cotta front
facade: 715 W. 179th Street, May 21st 2pm-4pm and May 22nd 1pm-3pm
Mother Seton Shrine, now serving as rectory for Our Lady of the Rosary Church
downtown, the site of the Mother Seton Shrine is a Federal period house designed in
1793 by John McComb Jr., architect of City Hall and Castle Clinton, for James Watson,
state assembly speaker and member of New York and US Senates. In 1806, the
distinctive curved portico was added, and in the 1880’s, it became a mission serving
female Irish immigrants. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American-born saint, lived in a
house next door, now the site of the church: 7 State Street
Museum at Eldridge Street/Eldridge Street Synagogue, built in 1887, is a National
Historic Landmark. The magnificently restored Moorish Revival synagogue housing the
museum was the first in the city built by Eastern European Jews: 12 Eldridge Street,
May 22nd 10am-5pm, free reading @ 5pm.
Old Broadway Synagogue: Located in Manhattanville, Old Broadway Synagogue was
constructed in 1923 and has recently completed major restoration of its façade, stained
glass, and roof. 15 Old Broadway, May 22nd 10am-12pm
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Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration, built in 1801 and rebuilt after a fire in
1815, this lower Manhattan landmark has served many communities and is known as
the “Church of the Immigrants.” Built as an Episcopal church by a congregation of
former Lutherans, it was sold to a Roman Catholic parish led by Cuban immigrant priest
in 1853; in the 1950’s the church began celebrating masses in Cantonese, Italian, and
English: 29 Mott Street, May 21st 2pm-5pm
Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava, originally built in 1851 as the uptown branch of
Trinity Church on Wall Street, the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava is an excellent
example of the English-inspired Gothic Revival, one of Richard M. Upjohn's
masterpieces, and the site of Edith Wharton’s wedding in 1885. Since its re-dedication
in 1944, the Cathedral of St. Sava has served as a hub of the Serbian Orthodox
community in the metropolitan New York area.: 16 W. 26th Street, May 21st 9am-5pm
and May 22nd 12pm-5pm
St. Bartholomew's: Completed in 1918 and superbly sited in a terraced garden amid the
corporate towers of Park Avenue, the Byzantine-Romanesque style inspired St.
Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church is an outstanding example of the work of Bertram
Grosvenor Goodhue. 325 Park Ave., May 22nd 12pm-2pm
St. John's in-the-Village Episcopal Church: Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé
Edgar Tafel, St. John’s in-the-Village was constructed in 1972-1974 after the original
Greek Revival church was destroyed by fire in 1971. The original 1854 parish hall wing
survived the fire. 224 Waverly Place, May 21st 12pm-2pm
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church: Designed by Robert Gibson and constructed in 1891,
this Romanesque Revival church contains a wide variety of windows, mosaic, and
decoration executed between 1893 and 1920 by notable artists such as Louis Comfort
Tiffany, Maitland Armstrong, J & R Lamb, and Charles Connick 225 W. 99th Street, May
21st 12pm-4pm
St. Philips: 204 W. 134th Street, Built in 1911, and celebrating its 100th anniversary with
an architectural symposium May 21st, this is the fourth home of New York City's first
African-American congregation of Protestant Episcopalians, founded in 1809. Designed
in the Neo-Gothic style by the firm of Tandy & Foster, the facade incorporates 14thcentury English Gothic elements in contrasting orange Roman brick and cast stone.
Vertner W. Tandy and George Washington Foster, Jr., were among the first AfricanAmericans to practice architecture in the United States.May 22nd 1pm Architecture
Symposium
St. Mark’s Church-In-The-Bowery: St. Mark's in the Bowery was constructed in 1795-99
on the site of the chapel originally built by Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New
Amsterdam in 1660, making it the oldest site of continuous worship in New York City.
131 East 10th Street, May 22nd 1pm-3pm
Stanton Street Shul: 180 Stanton Street Designed by neighborhood architect Louis A.
Sheinart and constructed in 1913 by combining two adjacent tenement buildings into one
structure, the former Congregation B'nai Joseph Anshe Brzezan is significant as one of
the few early 20th century "tenement synagogues" surviving on New York City's Lower
East Side. May 21st 12pm-2pm
Temple Emanu-El: One East 65th Street. Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1845,
merged with Temple Beth-El in the 1920's, and completed its present quarters, in 1929.
Temple Emanu-El stands out as one of New York City’s greatest spiritual and civic
landmarks, on the scale of the Cathedrals of St. Patrick and St. John the Divine. It is the
world’s largest synagogue, seating 2,500 people. This Art Deco interpretation of Moorish
and Romanesque styles was designed by architects Robert D. Kohn, Charles Butler,
and Clarence Stein, with Mayers, Murray & Phillip as associated architects. In turn, they
called upon some of the finest artisans of the day. Hildreth Meiere designed the
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sanctuary mosaics, while Heinigke and Smith executed the chapel mosaics. The
ornamental metalwork is by Oscar Bach and Samuel Yellin. The stone carvings are by
Ulysses Ricci, while the chapel features Tiffany windows. There is also an on-site
Judaica museum with 650 pieces that date from the 14th century to the present day,
including artifacts documenting the early history of the congregation. May 22 10am-4pm.
University Parish of St. Joseph's: 371 6th Ave., Designed by John Doran and erected in
1833-1834 for a parish founded in 1829, St. Joseph's is the second-oldest Roman
Catholic church building in New York City, and one of only a few examples of Greek
Revival-style Roman Catholic churches. May 21st 10am-12pm and May 22nd 1pm-3pm
Church of the Covenant: 310 East 42nd Street, Designed by J. Cleveland Cady and
completed in 1871, the church is a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture typical of
the late-nineteenth century. In 1927, the church was reduced in size and otherwise
altered to make room for a large parish house. May 22nd 9:30am-3pm
Church of the Holy Apostles: 296 9th Avenue, This 1848 church was designed by the
noted 19th century architect Minard Lafever. This is his only surviving building in
Manhattan definitely attributable to him, and contains windows from the Bolton Family,
America’s earliest producers of stained-glass windows. May 22nd 1pm-5pm
Church of Notre Dame: 405 West 114th Street, May 21st and 22nd 1:15pm-4pm
St. Ignatius of Antioch: 552 West End Avenue, St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal
Church, completed in 1903, is a representative example of a Late Gothic Revival church
designed by architect Charles Coolidge Haight. The interior features an important
polychrome ladychapel and statuary by Ralph Adams Cram, and the undercroft features
a Guastavino vault. May 21st 12pm-5pm
Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew: 263 West 86th Street, Completed in 1897, the
church was a key work in the career of New York architect Robert H. Robertson, and in
the forefront of 1890’s design both for its “scientific eclecticism,” and for this relatively
early application of the Beaux Arts classical color palette, light buff brick and terra cotta
May 22nd 1pm-3pm
Brooklyn:
• Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church: Located in the Ditmas Park Historic District
in Brooklyn, the Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church was designed in the NeoGeorgian style by the notable Boston firm of Allen, Collens, & Jallade and constructed in
1910. 424 E. 19th Street, May 21st 10am-2pm
• Holy House of Prayer for All People: 1768 St. John’s Place, This Art Deco former
theater has a seating capacity of 3000 people. Built in 1927, the former Ronley Theater
was originally a Yiddish theatre, housing vaudeville and plays, and broadcasting
performances on the radio until the early 1950’s. May 21st 11am-2pm
• New Baptist Temple: 360 Schermerhorn, Completed in 1895 by Brooklyn’s oldest
Baptist congregation, this Romanesque church was rebuilt after a 1917 fire, and is
currently recovering from another fire this summer. May 21st 9am-11am
• Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Cathedral: 113 Remsen Street, Designed by
Richard Upjohn and one of the earliest Romanesque Revival buildings in America, this
church was originally constructed in 1844 to house the Church of the Pilgrims. The
Church of the Pilgrims merged with Plymouth Church in the 1930s, and Our Lady of
Lebanon Church purchased this building in 1944. The doors at both the west and south
portals were salvaged from the ill-fated oceanliner Normandie which burned and sank in
its Hudson River berth in 1942. May 22nd 12pm-3pm
• Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims: 75 Hicks Street, was erected in 1849-50 as a meeting
house for the Plymouth Church, which was renowned as the church of Henry Ward
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Beecher who preached here from 1847 until 1887. After merger with the church of the
Pilgrims', Tiffany windows from what is now Our Lady of Lebanon were relocated to the
Hillis Hall behind Plymouth Church.May 21st 12pm-3pm
Rugged Cross Baptist Church: 1084 Lafayette Ave., Rugged Cross Baptist Church,
currently shrouded in scaffolding and undergoing major restoration, was built in 18981899 as the Christ Lutheran Church to serve the then-thriving German Lutheran
immigrant community of Bedford Stuyvesant and Bushwick. The present congregation,
Rugged Baptist, purchased the church in 1980. May 21st 10am-1pm and May 22nd
12pm-2pm
St. Ann and the Holy Trinity: 157 Montague Street, The Church of St. Ann and the Holy
Trinity (formerly Church of the Holy Trinity) is the most ambitious building designed by
Minard Lafever and the master work of his career. Construction was completed in 1847
on the Gothic Revival church, chapel, and parish house funded by paper manufacturer
John Bartow, who dreamed of erecting an Episcopal church in Brooklyn that would rival
such New York City churches as Trinity. May 21st 1-4pm
St. Charles Borromeo Church: 21 Sidney Place, Said to be prolific Catholic church
architect Patrick Keely’s 325th design of more than 600, this Gothic Revival church was
constructed in 1868. May 21st and May 22nd 12pm-4pm
St. John’s Lutheran Church: 155 Milton Street, Situated on a side street in Greenpoint,
St. John's Lutheran Church is a Neo-Gothic style church designed in 1897 by architect
Theobold Engelhart for a German Lutheran congregation. May 21st 2pm-4pm
St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church: 348 S. 5th Street, The St. Paul's complex was
designed by J.C. Cady & Company and constructed in 1884-1885 in the Romanesque
Revival style. This recently designated landmark church's most prominent feature is a
135-foot corner belltower. May 21st 2pm-4pm
St. Philips Episcopal Church: 265 Decatur Street, St. Philip's Episcopal Church was
designed in the Gothic Revival style by Arne Dehli and built between 1898-99.
Kane Street Synagogue: 236 Kane Street, Founded in 1856 and known as the 'Mother
Synagogue,' the synagogue is the oldest Jewish congregation in Brooklyn. In 1905, it
purchased the former Middle Dutch Reformed Church and adjacent school building
which were built in 1855-56. May 22nd 11am-1pm
First Unitarian Congregational Society: 50 Monroe Place, This 1844 church was
designed by the prolific church architect Minard Lafever the design of the building was
loosely based on late-English Gothic prototypes, such as Kings College Chapel on
Cambridge. However, Lafever adapted his sources to create a building which is
uniquely American. May 22nd 12pm-3pm
Queens:
• Astoria Center of Israel: 27-35 Crescent Street, Astoria Center of Israel was built in
1925-26 to a Classical Revival design by Louis Allen Abramson, considered one of the
chief architects of the synagogue-center movement, which incorporated educational,
recreational, and social facilities within buildings designed for worship. The Astoria
Center sanctuary is particularly significant for its religiously themed murals painted on
the ceiling and walls of the sanctuary by renowned French Beaux Arts trained, Art Deco
artist Louis Pierre Rigal in 1929. Rigal's work also adorns Manhattan's Chanin Building
and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. May 22nd 3pm-6pm
• Flushing Quaker Meeting House: 137-16 Northern Blvd., The eastern third of the
Friends Meeting House in Flushing is New York City’s oldest structure in continuous use
for religious purposes. Built in 1694 by a community of Friends including the Bowne
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family, whose house survives nearby, and enlarged in 1716-19, the wood shingled
meetinghouse is austerely simple, and offers evidence of the survival of medieval
building techniques in the American colonies in its proportions and massive timber
frame. May 21st 10am-3pm and May 22nd 10am-3pm
Free Synagogue of Flushing: 41-60 Kissena Blvd., Founded in 1917, the Free
Synagogue of Flushing is the oldest Reform Synagogue in Queens. The complex
includes two contributing buildings: a late-nineteenth century Colonial Revival mansion
that the Synagogue acquired in 1921 and used for services in its early years, and an
adjoining purpose-built synagogue, designed by Palestine-born, Beaux-Arts educated
Maurice Courland, constructed in 1927. May 21st 12pm-5pm
Church of the Resurrection: 85-09 118th Street, In December 1874, architect Henry
Dudley designed a small wooden frame church in the Gothic style for the newly
incorporated Church of the Resurrection. This structure remains the core of the existing
building. Among the early parishioners was Jacob Riis. The Riis Family memorial
stained glass window still remains in the building today. From 1905 through the 1920’s,
the church was remodeled and enlarged incrementally by additions in stone, which
included side aisles, a front porch, belfry, transepts, and a chancel. May 21st 10am-4pm
Church of the Most Precious Blood: 32-24 36th, St Constructed in 1931, the Church of
the Most Precious Blood is considered the masterwork of architects McGill and Hamlin.
Art Deco in style, the front façade features exquisite limestone carving, including flat
bas-relief panels punctuating a stylized cross motif at the entrance gable, and a
streamlined, neo-Byzantine arched entrance surround. Delicate perforated and molded
decorative aluminum metalwork, with a pattern of abstract peacocks and flowers, crowns
the tower. Grey metal leader head boxes are decorated with reliefs depicting fantastical
fish. Stepped steel multi-light casement windows punctuate the side entrance wings and
side elevations. Art-Deco figural stained glass windows light the altar and side aisles of
the sanctuary, while a Mondrian-like geometric window with colored glass and alabaster
panels lights the organ loft. The stained glass is by Richard N. Spiers & Son; the studio
also created windows for Riverside Church Towers, Temple Emanuel, and the Church of
the Heavenly Rest. The sanctuary interior is highly intact, retaining original majolica
plaques depicting the stations of the cross, designed by D. Dunbar Beck, flanked by
backlit, stained glass panels; art deco metalwork radiator panels and organ screen;
richly colored marble at the altar; original Arts and Crafts colored tile altar flooring; art
deco statuary at altar and side aisle chapels, including St. Theresa and St. Anthony
statues by Hazel Clerc, highlighted by stepped, skyscraper-motif openings; tile
wainscoting; striated ceiling paneling and heavy exposed wood trusses; and pews with
streamlined vertical striations. Beck (1903-1986) was an Ohio-born muralist and interior
designer with a BFA from Yale. May 21 2pm-4pm
Bronx:
• Tremont Baptist Church: 324 E. Tremont Ave., The neo-Gothic, gray marble Tremont
Baptist Church was constructed between 1904 and 1912 to the design of William H.
Birkmire, who was an engineer as well as an architect, authored a series of articles on
steel-framed skyscraper construction in the 1890's, and designed several commercial
buildings located within the Ladies’ Mile and Tribeca historic districts, as well as the
Mexican National Opera House in Mexico City May 21st 1pm-3pm
• St. Peter’s Episcopal Church: 2500 Westchester Avenue This 1855 Gothic Revival
church was designed by architect Leopold Eidlitz one of the most talented and influential
American architects in the 19th century, and is characteristic of his work in its
straightforward use of materials and its emphasis on structural clarity. After part of the
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church was destroyed by fire in 1877, it was rebuilt by Leipold's son Cyrus in 1879. The
cemetery contains many 18th-century gravestones.
Fordham United Methodist Church: 2543 Marion Avenue
Staten Island:
• Christ Church New Brighton: 76 Franklin Ave. The church (1903-1904) and parish hall
(1906-1907) were designed by prolific Philadelphia church architect Isaac Purcell in the
Neo-Gothic style. The church interior features exposed schist walls at the nave and
more delicate, limestone walls at the chancel, reredos carving by noted Art Deco
sculptor Lee Lowrie and exquisite, multi-panel pictorial stained glass windows by studios
including Tiffany, Fredrick Lamb, Lamb Studios, Gorham Studios, Nicola D’Ascenzo and
Valentine d’Ogries.
• St. Paul's Memorial Church: 225 St. Paul’s Ave., St. Paul's Memorial Church and
Rectory, designed by prominent architect Edward Potter and constructed in 1870,
considered one of the finest High Victorian Gothic religious complexes in New York City,
is situated in the country setting of Stapleton, one of the oldest sections of Staten Island.
May 21st 1-4pm and May 22nd 1-4pm
• Temple Emanu-El: 984 Post Ave., Temple Emanu-El, designed by architect Harry W.
Pelcher and built in 1907, is a two-story, rectangular frame structure with a cross gable
roof, surmounted by a dome atop an octagonal drum, with round-arched, opalescent
stained glass windows. The front façade features a classical two-column porch and
gabled pediment with a Decalogue, and is thought to have been modeled on the Great
Temple of Warsaw, Poland.
• Woodrow United Methodist Church: 1075 Woodrow Rd., Woodrow United Methodist
Church was the first established Methodist Church on Staten Island and has maintained
a continuous presence on the Island since 1771. Completed in 1842, the clapboard
sided Greek Revival temple-form church is distinguished by an imposing portico
supported by four wooden columns. The three-stage open bell tower and spire was
added in 1876..May 21st 1pm-3pm and May 22nd 1pm-3pm
Additional information is available on the congregations’ individual websites and at
nylandmarks.org. Photos available upon request.
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