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St. Michael’s Church (Episc)

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History of St. Michael's Church

St. Michael's Church was founded as a summer church on its present site in 1807 in the community of Bloomingdale by New York City residents who lived "in town" five miles to the south. What is now the northern end of the Upper West Side was then a patchwork of farms and country homes.

St. Michael's Second building

In 1854 the second church was consecrated - a Gothic structure, built of oak.

Construction of the Third Building

The current church building was dedicated on December 16, 1891. The parish house was completed in 1902. This building was designed for community service and originally contained facilities for a school, laundry and kitchen. 

As the city grew around in the latter half of the 19th century, St. Michael's mission became more and more local in aspect. The needs were great in the immediate precincts of the church. The Parish House, built in the last decade of the century, included facilities for education, industrial skills education, a family clinic; library, gym and child care center.

From 1907 to 1957 St. Michael's Church maintained a "colored" mission chapel on 99th Street, dedicated to St. Jude.

Today

The parish remained strong well into the 20th century, although after World War II many parishioners left the neighborhood and membership declined. A renaissance began in 1976, under the leadership of Reverend Frederick Hill, and continues today as the parish moves into the 21st century with its tenth rector, Canon George W. Brandt, who was called in 1994.

Art

St. Michael's church contains many fine works of art, including some of the most important ecclesiastical works of Tiffany Glass Studios founded by Louis Comfort Tiffany. The interior decorations by Tiffany and others were added in stages after the completion of the current church building in 1891.

St. Michael's contains many other fine examples of stained glass by other leading artists, which were added by parishioners over the years to adorn the church. These include windows by important American stained glass designers J&R Lamb and Maitland Armstrong. The addition of stained glass windows culminated in 1926-7 with nine windows by Charles J. Connick Studios of Boston.

The interior of the church was painted with brilliant colors in 1990 by Fine Art Decoration of New York. For most of its first 100 years, the sanctuary had been painted in neutral colors. In celebration of its centennial, the church was repainted using colors in the palette of the Tiffany decorations. This decoration has suffered extensive water damage in the last several years. The exterior of the building has now been repointed and the roof replaced. The church will be restoring the interior painting to its former glory in the near future.

Click to see all seven lancet windows together!
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The Campaign for Restoration and Renewal

In December of 1998 the Rev. Canon George W. Brandt called upon all parishioners of St. Michael's Church to dedicate themselves to a dual mission: the restoration of the deteriorated interior decoration of the sanctuary; and more urgently, the restoration and protection from further environmental degradation of the seven priceless Tiffany stained glass windows depicting "St. Michael's Victory in Heaven", located in the apse of the church.

These historically and aesthetically important Tiffany windows are part of a larger collection of ecclesiastical decorations designed by Tiffany Glass Studios - decorations which to this day form one of the largest Tiffany installations still intact in its original setting. This legacy left by previous generations of St. Michael's parishioners to present-day and future St. Michael's worshippers, as well as to the greater community, constitutes both a tremendous gift and a great responsibility. Therefore, there is an enormous task to be accomplished in the years ahead for this and for future generations of St. Michael's parishioners, and for all those who treasure the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany and value their place and preservation within the fabric of historic churches and their neighborhoods.

The work of restoring the Tiffany windows and the interior decorations commenced in the winter of 1998, and is expected to continue into the new millennium, culminating in October of 2001. To facilitate this work the Committee for the Restoration and Renewal of St. Michael's Church was formed in December, 1998. This committee is comprised of volunteers from within the parish and advisors drawn from New York City's artistic, historical, and civic communities. 

The Committee has embraced a four-fold mission:

• to raise awareness within the parish and the greater community as to the historical and aesthetic importance of these Tiffany stained glass windows and their current need for restoration

• to assist with the implementation of a plan to restore the seven Tiffany lancet windows and the interior decoration of the sanctuary

• to raise all necessary funds to pay for the restoration work required, an amount currently estimated to be $500,000 

• to implement an on-going public education program which work with outside scholarly and tourist programs to increase awareness of the historic and aesthetic treasure that is St. Michael's Church, the oldest incorporated institution on the Upper West Side of Manhattan

To achieve these four goals, the Committee has embarked on a comprehensive program of parish and public education, as well as fundraising within and outside the parish. 

St. Michael's Church is a vibrant and growing institution, with vitally important spiritual and social service functions. With a nearly a two hundred year-history of positive involvement with its surrounding neighborhood and with the city-at-large, this parish still serves its community through multiple outreach and worship ministries. Although this parish is not a particularly affluent, its members, already supporting the work of these various outreach ministries, recognize the need to offer both spiritual and significant financial support to this three-year Campaign for Restoration and Renewal. 

However, although parish members are generous in terms of offering their time and expertise, as well as their spiritual, and financial support to the Campaign, the financial resources of this parish will not meet the entire cost of the restoration effort already underway. To fully fund this urgent and important work to completely restore the Tiffany windows and the interior decoration of the sanctuary, outside sources of funding will be necessary.

For more information about how you and/or your organization can participate in the St. Michael's Campaign for Restoration and Renewal, please feel free to contact the following:

St. Michael's Church
Campaign for the Restoration and Renewal
225 West 99th Street, New York, NY 10025
212-222-2700

Walter Cain - Co-Chair, Restoration Committee
Lisette Mallary - Co-Chair, Restoration Committee

Rebecca Hill - Co-Chair, Campaign Committee
Helen Graves - Co-Chair, Campaign Committee
Ron Melichar - Liaison to the Community Advisory Board

Clarissa Crabtree - Chair, Special Events
Joan Kenyon - Chair, Public Education Committee

http://www.saintmichaelschurch.org/archhist.htm 

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