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| Top Ten
NYC Architecture |
top ten New York churches |
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For a more complete list, see
Church |
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| 1 |
TRINITY
CHURCH |
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Trinity Church, at 74 Trinity Place in New York City, is a historic full
service parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York. Trinity
Church is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in
downtown Manhattan.
St. Paul's Chapel, part of the Parish of Trinity Church, is the oldest
public building in continuous use in New York City.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Fishkill, New York was started in 1756 with
the missionary assistance of Trinity Church.
Photo of Trinity Church and the schoolhouse of Trinity School (c. 17??).
At the time of its completion, in 1846, its 281-foot spire and cross was
the highest point in New York until being surpassed in 1890 by the New
York World Building.
On July 9, 1976, the church was visited by Queen Elizabeth II of the
United Kingdom, and she was presented with a symbolic "back rent" of 279
peppercorns.
Since 1993, Trinity church has been the location which the High School
of Economics and Finance holds their senior graduation ceremonies. The
school is located on Trinity Place (a few blocks away from the church).
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| 2 |
St.
Paul’s Chapel |
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architect
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Andrew Gautier and James
Crommelin Lawrence, and possibly Thomas McBean |
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location
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Broadway
(bet. Fulton and Vesey) |
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date
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1766 |
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style
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Georgian
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construction
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Built of Manhattan mica-schist with brownstone
quoins, St. Paul's has the classical portico, boxy proportions and domestic
details that are characteristic of Georgian churches such as James Gibbs'
London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which it was modelled. Its
octagonal tower rises from a square base and is topped by a replica of the
Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (c. 335 BC). |
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type
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Church |
St. Paul's Chapel, at 209 Broadway, is an Episcopal chapel located on
Church Street between Fulton and Vesey Streets, opposite the east side
of the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan in New York City.
A chapel of the Parish of Trinity Church, St. Paul's was built on land
granted by Queen Anne of Great Britain, and Andrew Gautier served as the
master craftsman. Upon completion in 1766, it stood in a field some
distance from the growing port city to the south. It was built as a
"chapel-of-ease" for parishioners who lived far from the Mother Church.
Inside, the chapel's simple elegant hall has the pale colors, flat
ceiling and cut glass chandeliers reminiscent of contemporary domestic
interiors. In contrast to the awe-inspiring interior of Trinity Church,
this hall and its ample gallery were endowed with a cozy and comfortable
character in order to encourage attendance. |
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| 3 |
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
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architect
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James
Renwick Jr. and William Rodrigue |
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location
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Fifth
Avenue, bet. E50 and E51. |
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date
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1851-79, towers 1888 |
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style
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Gothic Revival
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construction
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stone |
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type
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Church |
St. Patrick's Cathedral is the largest decorated Neo-Gothic-style
Catholic cathedral in North America. It is the seat of the archbishop of
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, and a parish church, located
on Fifth Avenue between 50th and 51st streets in Manhattan. It faces
Rockefeller Center.
The Cathedral
of New York's Catholic Archdiocese and seat of its Cardinal, in its early
years this elaborate building served, among others, the working class,
immigrant Catholic staff who were employed by the city's Episcopalian
elite. The Cathedral's Gothic Revival design is based on French models.
Somewhat generic in its form, it lacks the quaint flavor of Grace and
Trinity Churches and the mysterious grandeur of St. John the Divine. A
Lady Chapel, added to the Madison Avenue side of the Cathedral in 1906, is
more impressive than the rest of the edifice. When construction began, the
Cathedral was located on the outskirts of town in an area of slaughter
houses and cattle yards. As construction progressed, the city advanced
northwards to the area around St. Patrick's. Nevertheless, the site
remained somewhat 'tainted' in the minds of 19th century New Yorkers. |
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| 4 |
St. John the Divine |
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architect
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Heins & La Farge
[1892-1911]; Cram and Ferguson, Carrere
& Hastings, Thomas Nash and Henry Vaughn
[1911-1942]; James Bambridge [1979-present] |
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location
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Amsterdam Avenue and
112th Street. |
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date
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1892 |
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style
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Gothic |
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construction
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stone |
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type
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Church |
The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, officially the Cathedral Church of
Saint John the Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, is the
Cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.
Located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue New York, NY 10025 (between West 110th
Street, which is also known as "Cathedral Parkway", and 113 Street) in
Manhattan's Morningside Heights, the cathedral is claimed to be the
largest cathedral and Anglican church and third largest Christian church
in the world (although the title is disputed with Liverpool Anglican
Cathedral).
The cathedral, designed in 1888 and begun in 1892, has, in its history,
undergone radical stylistic changes and the interruption of the two
World Wars. It remains unfinished, with construction and restoration a
continuing process. |
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| 5 |
St. Bartholomew’s Church
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architect
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Bertram Goodhue [1919], Entrance Portico:
McKim, Mead
and White |
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location
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Park
Ave., between E50 and E51. |
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date
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1902 |
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style
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free and simplified Byzantine design with heavier French Romanesque
portal retained from the earlier building. A pleasantly eclectic admixture. |
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construction
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limestone and brick |
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type
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Church |
The foundation stone of Goodhue's original design, a vast, unified
barrel-vaulted[5] space, without side aisles or chapels and with
severely reduced transepts, was laid 1 May 1917[6] and the construction
was sufficiently far along for the church to be consecrated in 1918; its
design was altered during construction, after Goodhue's sudden,
unexpected death in 1924, by his office associates, in partnership as
Mayers, Murray and Philips; they were engaged in erecting the community
house, continuing with the same materials, subtly variegated salmon and
cream-colored bricks and creamy Indiana limestone; they designed the
terrace that still provides the equivalent of a small square, surrounded
by the cliff-like facades of Midtown commercial structures
(illustration, upper right); in summer, supplied with umbrellas and
tables, it becomes Café St. Bart's. They also inserted the "much
discussed"[7] dome, tile-patterned on the exterior and with a polychrome
Hispano-Moresque interior dome, which substituted for the spire that had
been planned but never built.[8] Completed in 1930, the church contains
stained-glass windows and mosaics by Hildreth Meiere, and a marble
baptismal font by the Danish follower of Canova, Bertel Thorvaldsen. St.
Bartholomew's, completed by 1930 at a cost of $5,400,000,[9] is one of
the city's landmarks; for long of New York's wealthiest parishes, St.
Bart's is known for its wide range of programs. It draws parishioners
from all areas of New York City and its surroundings. |
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| 6 |
Little Church Around the Corner |
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architect
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F.C.Withers et al. |
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location
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One
East 29th St. |
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date
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1849-1926 |
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style
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early English Neo-Gothic style |
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construction
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brick, timber |
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type
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Church |
Located at 1 East 29th Street,in the Murray Hill District, the church is
set back from the street behind a garden creating a facsimile of the
English countryside in midtown Manhattan and has long been an oasis for
New Yorkers of all faiths who relax in the garden, pray in the chapel or
enjoy free weekday concerts in the main church. It has also been known
as the "wedding church" because of the popularity of the church for
weddings.
The “Little Church Around the Corner,” was founded in 1848 “to embrace
all races and classes.” Designed in the early English Neo-Gothic style
and with its quaint English Garden retains a picturesque quality of a
true English parish church, despite being in sight of the Empire State
Building. The church also features numerous and eclectically designed
side chapels and a 14th Century stained glass window. |
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| 7 |
Marble Collegiate Church |
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architect
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Samuel A.Warner |
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location
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Fifth
Ave at 29th St. |
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date
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1851-54 |
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style
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mix of Romanesque, Gothic and
Wrenian Classical
forms |
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construction
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smooth blocks of white
marble |
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type
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Church |
Marble Collegiate Church is a church of the Reformed Church in America
located at Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Ninth Street in New York City. It is
the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in the United States; It
was founded in 1628 as the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church,
and was part of the Calvinist Dutch Reformed Church.
Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was Pastor there for fifty years from the
mid-1930s. The present Pastor is Dr. Arthur Caliandro. |
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| 8 |
St.
Jean Baptiste Church |
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architect
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Nicholas Sirracino |
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location
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1067-1071
Lexington Ave., At East 76. |
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date
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1910-13 |
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style
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Italian Baroque |
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construction
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stone |
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type
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Church |
The construction of the present church building was due, in large part, to the contributions of Thomas Fortune Ryan and his wife. Ryan, a devout and wealthy man of unassuming ways, preferred St. Jean's to the large and showy parishes near his Fifth Avenue home, and the Blessed Sacrament Fathers served as his wife's private chaplains at the Ryan's country home in Suffern, New York. One day he arrived late for mass and found that there was standing room only. At the conclusion of the service, he approached the officiating priest and asked how much it would cost to build a new church. The priest answered, apparently off the top of his head, "$300,000." Ryan replied, "Get some plans and I will pay for it."
The new church, completed in 1913, was designed by Nicholas Serracino in the Italian Baroque style, with a massive, freestanding Corinthian portico, twin bell towers, and a magnificent dome over the crossing of the nave and transepts. The total cost was close to $600,000, but both the patron and the parish were apparently quite satisfied with the result, as we still are today. |
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| 9 |
Church
of the Heavenly Rest |
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architect
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Bertram Goodhue |
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location
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Fifth Avenue & E
90th Street |
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date
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1926 |
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style
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Neo-Gothic.
Art Deco
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construction
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limestone |
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type
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Church |
The church has always stood on Fifth Avenue, but originally much further south on E45th Street intersection. It was founded by a group
of Civil War veterans in 1865. The present site on the eastern side of Central Park was acquired from Mrs Andrew Carnegie. The foundation
stone was laid in 1926 and the church held its first service in 1929. The architect was Bertram Goodhue but he had died in 1924 so his plans
were executed by Hardie Phillip (of Mayers, Murray & Phillip). It is a modernised Gothic style, almost Art Deco in some features, with a shimmering facade of limestone with large Geometric four light window above a double portal. Flanking this are two turrets, like miniature towers. |
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| 10 |
First
Church of Christ, Scientist |
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architect
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Carrere
& Hastings |
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location
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One
West 96th Street at Central Park West |
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date
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1904 |
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style
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Neo-Georgian
"a major monument of the Composite Era" Stern |
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construction
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white Concord granite |
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type
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Church |
"Carrère & Hastings's evocation of the low church architecture of Georgian London and New England set the tone for many subsequent Christian Science churches throughout the northeast. Carrère & Hastings achieved a remarkable sense of solidity not only through the blocky composition, inspired by the English Mannerist architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, but also through the use of extremely large blocks of a white Concord granite, a stone so hard that it shattered mechanical saws and had to be cut by hand. Inside, the church was less distinctly English in feeling. A gallery wrapped around three sides of the auditorium, and barrel vaults sprang from piers which barely cleared the galleries, creating a powerfully encompassing effect. The room was largely undecorated, except for an elaborate organ case and rich Modern French plasterwork on the ceiling, which also contained roundels of concealed lighting. Supported above the auditorium arches were the church's offices, reading rooms and extensive Sunday school facilities. Clearly expressed on the exterior, their location reflected a unique solution to the problem of the parochial complex. Owen R. Washburn was correct in his assessment for the Architectural Record: "if we may not speak of a cathedral, in this case, we surely possess the metropolitan church."
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| 11 |
Judson
Memorial Church |
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architect
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Stanford White of McKim, Mead
and White |
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location
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55
Washington Square South at Thompson Street. |
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date
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1892 |
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style
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eclectic composite of
Byzantine, Romanesque and Renaissance forms
Italianate
McKim, Mead and White characterized their Italianate, or Renaissance
revival, design as "Romanesque, strongly influenced by an early
basilica" (Sloan 300-309).
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construction
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terracotta, brick, stained glass by John La Farge |
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type
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Church |
Judson Memorial Church is a particularly stately edifice, at the south
side of Washington Square. The church building, designed by renowned
architect Stanford White, and stained glass master John La Farge,
features Italian Renaissance influences wedded to a basic Italianate
form. It features notable examples of scagliola, a very convincing
handcrafted imitation of marble made of highly polished pigmented
plaster. Sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens designed a marble frieze in the
baptistery. Overall, the exterior and shape of Judson Memorial is said
to resemble Santa Maria, a basilica in Rome, while the entrance is said
to be inspired by the Renaissance church San Alessandro, built in Lucca
in 1480. The church is a national landmark.
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| 12 |
Riverside Church |
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architect
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Allen & Collens |
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location
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Morningside |
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date
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1926-30 |
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style
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Gothic |
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construction
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limestone, steel structure |
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type
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Church |
This Baptist
Church was funded in large part by John D. Rockefeller Jr., whose wealthy
family often used building endowments to cement their position in New York
society and American politics. Built in the French Gothic style, the
elaborate form of the church and its fine materials (such as stained
glass) are at odds with the simple, pared-down style that normally
characterizes Baptist ecclesiastical architecture. With an interior based
on the Chartres Cathedral, the design shows off the Rockefellers' ability
to straddle European and American building traditions. Modeled on Laon
Cathedral, the church's bell tower is actually a 21-story steel-frame
high-rise. Its enormous size all but overwhelms the nave beyond. |
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| 13 |
St.
Mark’s in the Bowery Church |
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architect
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Ithiel Town |
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location
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East
10th St. at Second Ave. |
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date
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Built/Founded: 1799, restored 1975-1978, restored 1978-1984 |
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style
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Greek
Revival steeple
added 1828 and an Italianate portico completing the structure in 1854. |
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construction
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stone |
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type
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Church |
"The Bowery" was Dutch governor
Peter Stuyvesant's farm, and his private chapel used to stand on this
site--making this the oldest site of continuous worship in Manhattan. This
church was erected 1795-99-- one of the few surviving 18th Century
structures in Manhattan--with a Greek revival steeple added 1828 and an
Italianate portico completing the structure in 1854.
Originally a church of Manhattan's elite,
St Marks became a progressive force in the neighborhood both socially and
culturally. Supportive of immigrant, labor and civil rights, the church
was a meetingplace for Black Panthers and Young Lords, and launched the
first lesbian healthcare clinic.
Poets like W.H. Auden (who was a parishoner),
William Carlos Williams, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Amy Lowell, Carl
Sandburg, Kahlil Gibran, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith and Jim Carroll have
all read here; since 1966, the St Marks Poetry Project has organized
poetry events. The Danspace project has featured dance legends like
Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. Sam Shepherd's first
two plays were produced here, and Andy Warhol screened his early films.
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| 14 |
SHRINE
OF ST. ELIZABETH ANN BAYLEY SETON |
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architect
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James
Watson house: James McComb, Jr.
Shrine: Shanley & Sturges
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location
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7
State Street, between Pearl and Whitehall Streets. |
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date
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James
Watson house: 1794-1806, Shrine: 1965
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style
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Georgian |
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construction
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brick |
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type
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Church,
House |
7 State Street (between Pearl and Whitehall Sts) 1793-1806, eastern
portion architect unknown; the western half attributed to James McComb,
Jr. architect Although a contemporary building, the shrine was designed
in the Georgian Style to match the adjacent Watson House. This small
chapel is dedicated to Elizabeth Seton, the founder of the Catholic
order of Sisters of Charity, who was canonized in 1975. A close
comparison of the Shrine with the Watson House reveals the material,
technical and stylistic differences between the 18th century residence
and its historicist 20th century neighbor.
Once home of wealthy merchant James B. Watson, this typical Federal
Style rowhouse is the only extant residence in this area. Like other
merchants of 18th and early 19th century New York City, Watson chose to
live near the river in order to have an unobstructed harbor view and to
be in close proximity to his shipping interests. The eastern portion
(1793) which follows the line of the street was executed by an unknown
architect, while the curved western portion (1806) has been attributed
to the sophisticated architect, John McComb Jr. Following the Civil War,
the house was purchased by Irish immigrant Charlotte Grace O'Brien to
serve as the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary, a waystation for young
immigrant girls.
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| 15 |
Abyssinian
Baptist Church |
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architect
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Charles W.
Bolton |
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location
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132-142
West 138th Street |
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date
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1923 |
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style
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Gothic
and Tudor (Neo-Gothic ) |
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construction
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limestone |
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type
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Church |
Founded in 1808 at 40 Worth
Street in lower Manhattan, Abyssinian Baptist Church served as a home
base for both Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. and Jr. and played a
major role in black history. The cavernous Gothic and Tudor (Neo-Gothic
) structure replete with imported stained-glass windows and an Italian
marble pulpit was designed by Charles W. Bolton in 1923. Known as the
largest and best known black congregation (weekly attendance numbers in
the thousands) in the United States, Abyssinian Baptist has a superb
choir and sixty-seven rank organ. |
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