The Lost Holyrood Episcopal Church - Broadway and 181st Street

 

At around the last turn of the century, development encroached onto the recently bucolic setting.  photo by Thaddeus Wilkerson, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

R. D. Chandler used only his initials professionally.  The prolific architect was based in Fair Haven, New Jersey and was responsible for designs over wide-spread locations.  On one day alone, on May 14, 1898, for instance, Chandler filed plans for a two-story cottage in Elberon, New Jersey; a frame residence in Red Bank, New Jersey; and a public school at Fairhaven, New Jersey.  Three years earlier, he had commissioned a church building in the rural Fort Washington Heights district.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Episcopalian Rev. William Oliver Embury earned his L.L. B. degree in 1866 from Columbia College.  In the 1880s, he was rector of the Anthon Memorial Church in West 48th Street before becoming involved with the Sisters of St. Mary far north in Inwood.  Rev. Embury was chaplain of the order's The House of Refuge for Problem Girls.  In 1893, he established a parish, the Holyrood.

Embury's pastoral site sat on the southwest corner of Broadway and 181st Street, surrounded with farmland and summer estates.  R. D. Chandler produced a one-story vernacular structure clad in fieldstone befitting to the country setting.  A sturdy porch sheltered the entrance and the corner tower rose to the belfry under a pyramidal cap.  Importantly, Chandler forewent the Gothic style in favor of more provincial square-headed openings.

A wooden picket fence surrounds the original structure.  from Fort Washington, 1902 (copyright expired)

The neighborhood around Holywood Episcopal Church was historic.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said, "The church is known as the Little Church at the old fort."  It had been the site of Fort Washington and on November 16, 1776, was the scene of the Battle of Fort Washington when the British devastated George Washington's army.

On the 125th anniversary of the battle, on November 16, 1901, "A marble, bronze and granite memorial commemorating the battle of Fort Washington was unveiled," reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  The impressive ceremony included a police platoon, the 8th Artillery Band of the U.S. Army, two companies of the U.S. Coast Artillery, and, "Then came the colors of the Empire State society, Sons of the Revolution, with a guard composed of delegations of the two continental organizations," and the "bank of the New York Juvenile Asylum and three platoons of the boys from the Deaf and Dumb Asylum brought up the rear."

A second historical plaque was installed the following year, on September 23, 1902.  The Evening Post reported, "Mollie Pitcher was not the only woman who fought in the war of the Revolution."  That day the Mary Washington Colonial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution unveiled the tablet in honor of Margaret Corbin.  After the war, Corbin had been recognized by Congress.

In reporting about the ceremony, The Bulletin explained,

Margaret Corbin was the wife of John Corbin, a patriot in the war for Independence.  He was in charge of a piece of artillery at fort Washington when the fort was assailed by the Hessian troops.  Margaret Corbin stood at her husband's side as he fired the gun.  When he was killed by a rifle shot she sprang to his place and kept the gun in action until she was herself shot and disabled.

On October 4, 1903, The Sun reported that plans had been filed for a "parish house, 30 feet front and 125 feet deep."  The article noted it "will contain a clubroom, gymnasium, bowling alleys, meeting hall and Sunday school and also a library for the Women's Guild of the church."  The cost of the extension was $9,000--about $321,000 in 2024 terms.

Holyrood Episcopal Church was the custodian of a significant collection of Revolutionary relics within the new parish house.  Among them, according to the New-York Tribune on August 7, 1904, were, "Exploded shells, bent spikes, broken bayonets and swords, a bent lance head and other weapons, in one case with the bones of the dead attached."  The article said in part,

The collection includes buttons of the 16th Foot, the regiment taken by "Mad" Anthony Wayne at Stony Point in 1779, the 23d Welsh Fusiliers, which fought in every engagement of the war; the 10th Regiment, which took part in the attack on Fort Washington, and the 44th, which was engaged in the building the earthworks still bearing the names of King George and Governor William Tryon.

In the guild room of the parish house was "a great fireplace built entirely of stones and bricks from old Colonial fireplaces and Revolutionary houses," said The Sun, later.

The historic fireplace.  New-York Tribune Illustrated Supplement, August 7, 1904 (copyright expired)

In only fifteen years after Holywood Episcopal Church opened its doors, the Fort Washington district was bustling with development.  On June 4, 1910, the Record & Guide reported, "The trustees of the Holyrood Church at the southwest corner of Broadway and 181st st., have voted to accept an offer for the church and site, which is said to exceed $200,000."   (The article mentioned the property "cost $30,000 15 years ago.")

With the massive windfall, equal to $6.62 million today, the congregation planned to erect "a new church in the English perpendicular Gothic style," nearby at 179th Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

When this photograph was taken around 1910, the church property was engulfed by apartment buildings.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The following year, on September 23, 1911, the Record & Guide reported, "The picturesque churchyard which once made the Holywood chapel at 181st street and Broadway so attractive has disappeared and two-story brick taxpayers cover the site."

Today's site.  photograph by Jesus Rodriguez

thanks for reader Jim Lesses to prompted this post

The 1887 Calvary Methodist Church (Salem United Methodist) 2190 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.

 

photograph by the author

On New Year's Day 1887, the Record & Guide recapped the "notable additions to the architectural attractions of New York for the past year."  On the long list of "the costly and substantial buildings of 1886" was the West Harlem Methodist Episcopal Church, chapel and parsonage, at the northwest corner of 129th Street and 7th Avenue (later Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard).  Designed by John Rochester Thomas, according to the article the cost of construction was $150,000, or just under $5 million in 2024.

Thomas's brawny, brick-faced Romanesque Revival structure featured nearly mirror-image facades on the avenue and side street.  A prominent bell tower rose at the corner rose to a high conical cap topped with a crocket.  King's Handbook of New York City was tepidly impressed, saying the "massive tower [is] impressive from its size, but not strikingly picturesque in treatment."

In its January 1, 1887 article, the Record & Guide had mentioned that John Rochester Thomas was also designing a structure for Calvary Church on 57th Street near Sixth Avenue.  Calvary Methodist Episcopal was formed just four years earlier.  The two congregations soon merged and on December 22, 1890, The New York Times reported, "The new edifice of the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church...was dedicated yesterday with appropriate services in the morning, afternoon, and evening."

During the morning service, at which "fully 2,500 persons were present," according to The Times, "An earnest appeal to the congregation was made for money to clear the debt incurred in the remodeling of the church, and $18,000 was raised."

In 1892, King's Handbook of New York City said, "Calvary Methodist church is said to have the largest congregation of any church of that denomination in the city, although it is of recent formation...The main auditorium is among the largest of the Protestant churches in the city, seating 2,200 people."  The article continued:

It is attractively furnished and decorated, and abundantly lighted from the three large Catharine-wheel windows and numerous smaller ones, and from the stained-glass opening in the flat panelled [sic] roof.  A spacious gallery, with graceful horse-shoe curve, sweeps around three sides of the auditorium, and there is a feeling of roominess and light which adds to the general attractiveness.  A large chapel and several class-rooms are connected with the church.

The status of Calvary Methodist Church was evidenced on Sunday morning, April 30, 1899 when the President of the United States, William McKinley, attended services.  The President was accompanied by his brother, Abner, since, as reported by the New York Journal and Advertiser, "Mrs. McKinley, who as still wearied from the trip on Saturday, remained quietly in her room at the Hotel Manhattan."

Unthinkable today, President McKinley gave his bodyguards the day off.  "He was sure nobody would hurt him," explained the article.  "A mounted policeman, however, rode with the carriage through Central Park."  Because McKinley had asked the press not to announce where he would be worshiping, the church was only normally crowded.  The congregation, however, had been tipped off and over the entrance was a large American flag and the pulpit was decorated with a flag and flowers.  "One great bunch of roses was sent by the ladies of the church for Mrs. McKinley."

After McKinley placed a dollar bill "fresh from the mint" in the offering plate, a deacon "put a silver dollar in the plate and proudly kept the bill," said the article.  "The service concluded with the singing of America, in which the President joined."

Rev. Dr. Willis P. Odell had been pastor of Calvary for two years at the time of McKinley's visit.  He and his wife, the former Eva Josephine Beede, had met at Tilton Seminary in New Hampshire and had graduated together.  They lived in the rectory and summered at The Laurels at Sandow, New Hampshire.  The estate had been in Eva's family for years.  (Churches with well-heeled congregations routinely closed during the summer months, since the members were, for the most part, away.)

Rev. Odell was transferred to the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1904.  His last sermon here was scheduled for Easter Sunday.  Eva Odell would not live to see it.  She died of a heart attack on March 26 at the age of 52.  Her husband officiated at her funeral in Calvary Methodist Church two days later.

Eva's will provided firm restrictions on the title to The Laurels.  She named her husband as life tenant, and cautioned that if it were to be sold, "the purchaser shall not be a drunkard, a spend-thrift, or a speculator, because it has been the home of one God-fearing, sober, industrious family for generations."

Rev. Dr. Charles L. Goodell took over the pastorship, and it was not especially long before he was faced with a crisis.  On February 12, 1906, The New York Times reported, "the Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church...said to have one of the largest Methodist congregations in the United States, has always borne the reputation of having a first-class choir."  The 25-member choir was headed by organist and choirmaster A. Y. Cornell.

A week before the article, on the night of February 5, the church board met.  One member mentioned that the attendance had noticeably increased, adding, "I think it's due to the fine work of the choir."

Another board member reacted, "What?  The choir?  That howling mob!"  He then attributed the increased attendance  to "the fine preaching" of Rev. Dr. Goodell.

Someone leaked the "howling mob" comment to a choir member.  By Saturday all members had agreed to strike, refusing to sing until a formal retraction was published.  The following Monday, The New York Times reported, "When services began in the church yesterday morning the choir filed down the main aisle of the church and took seats...Instead of twenty-five men and women occupying the accustomed choir seats there were only two women and two men, professional singers."

After the service, Rev. Goodell "immediately called a meeting of the board," said The Times.  After an hour's discussion, a statement was given to the press that said, in part, that the word "howling" was not used "in any sense as a term of opprobrium" and that the choir's "services are highly appreciated by every member of the official board." 

Dr. Rev. Goodell had mended the wound and the choir was back in its seats for evening services.

The tall conical tower cap was intact when this 1910 postcard was published.

The demographics of the upscale suburb were noticeably changing after World War I.  Mass transportation made the district easily accessible.  On November 5, 1922, The New York Times began an article saying, "very few of the old families remain which made the Harlem section of the city a delightful community residential locality a quarter of a century ago and more."  The article said the Calvary Church property had been sold "for $25,800, with the understanding that the present congregation will not leave for two years."

Rev. Willis P. Odell had returned to the congregation three years earlier.  He explained the membership had dwindled from more than 2,000 to "barely 800, as so many of the old families have moved away."  Many of those congregants were reacting to what would later be termed "white fear."  The article noted, "Practically all of the Seventh Avenue area down to 126th Street has been captured by the colored population."

The property had been purchased by the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, founded by Rev. Frederick A. Cullen as a mission of St. Mark's United Methodist Church in the East Village in 1902.  In 1908, Salem Chapel became an independent congregation: the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church.

Frederick A. Cullen was born in Maryland in 1868.  In 1919, he married Carolyn Belle Mitchell, who worked closely with him in the church.  Like so many Harlem religious leaders, Cullen was also highly involved in civil rights and would serve as the president of the Harlem branch of the NAACP.  In 1917, he was vice-president of the Negro Silent Protest Parade, commonly known as the Silent Parade.  On July 28 that year, 10,000 Blacks marched along Fifth Avenue to protest racist violence like the lynchings in Waco, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee.

Not long after their marriage, the Cullens adopted a teenage boy, Countée Porter.  He would become a recognized poet and important member of the Harlem Renaissance.  Rev. Cullen officiated over many marriages, but none was so personal as the wedding of Countée Cullen to Nina Yolande Du Bois in April 1928.  The bride held a Masters Degree from Columbia University and the groom had recently won a Guggenheim fellowship.

In 1942, after heading Salem United Methodist Church for four decades, Rev. Frederick Cullen stepped down because of failing health.  He was, nevertheless, no doubt among the congregation who assembled in the church on September 24, 1944 to hear Secretary of State Thomas J. Curran speak.

Curran defended the Republican Party, saying that, "while the Negroes of America had been the subject of political exploitation for many years, the party of Lincoln had not done the exploiting."  He promised that the party would push for a Congressional inquiry "to ascertain the extent of mistreatment, segregation and discrimination against Negroes in the armed services and establishment of a permanent Fair Employment Practice Commission."

Rev. Frederick A. Cullen died on May 25, 1946.  The following year, Rev. Charles Young Trigg oversaw a six-year renovation to the church by Joseph Judge and Samuel Snodgrass.  It may have been at this time that the tower cap was replaced with a shorter version.  The sanctuary received a new organ at the time--the rebuilt 1931 Möller Organ Company instrument removed from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Park Avenue.  It was rebuilt for the church at the Möller factory.

On April 13, 1953, The New York Times reported, "Five hundred worshipers at the Salem Methodist Church, 129th Street and Seventh Avenue, celebrated the church's fiftieth anniversary yesterday...The sanctuary, which was recently renovated, was reconsecrated."  The article recalled, "Early in its history the church formed athletic and cultural groups."  It mentioned that Sugar Ray Robinson had "graduated into the prize-fighting ring" from the church's athletic club, and noted that Countée Cullen "became one of the most famous Negro poets of this century."

The tradition of activism and support for civil rights continued throughout the decades.  On May 2, 1971, The New York Times reported that a "small group of prestigious black New Yorkers" had formed the Committee for the Legal Defense of the Harlem Five" and had met in the basement of the Salem Methodist Church "to mobilize support for the Harlem Five, a group of youths on trial for allegedly conspiring to kill policemen."

image by ajay_suresh

Despite its reduced tower cap, John Rochester Thomas's striking 1887 structure commands as much attention today as it did nearly 140 years ago.

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The Lost St. John the Baptist (Epiphany) Church - 259 Lexington Avenue

 

from the collection of the new York Public Library

Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie Jr. was born on August 6, 1821.  He descended from old and distinguished New York families, including the Roosevelts, Bleeckers, and Baches.  (His mother, Helena Bleecker, the daughter of James Bleecker, died 11 days later after his birth.)  His father, Cornelius Sr., was the founder and first rector of St. Thomas's Church.

Cornelius Jr. graduated from Columbia College in 1841, and from the General Theological Seminary in 1845.  Three years later, after serving briefly as curate in Trinity Church, he founded the parish of St. John the Baptist in Murray Hill, "then the upper part of the city," according to the New-York Tribune decades late.  

Joseph Alfred Scovill, in his 1865 Old Merchants of New York, explained that Duffie's grandfather, John Duffie, had "owned a large parcel of land in Kip's Bay, now on the east side of Murray Hill, much of which still remains in the family."  Cornelius R. Duffie Jr. and his aunts donated a parcel at the northeast corner of  Lexington Avenue and 35th Street to the newly organized parish.  According to church historian David Clarkson in 1894, a "frame building" was erected for the small congregation.

(In his book, Scoville added, "The rumor in the vicinity goes that the church received its name from family affection and veneration for old John Duffee, who was a steady pillar deacon of the old First Baptist Church on Golden Hill.")

In 1856, the wooden church was demolished and "replaced by a handsome stone edifice designed by Frank Wills," according to David Clarkson.  Born in England in 1822, Wills had arrived in New York City in 1847 and quickly became the official architect for the New York Ecclesiology Society.  He was an early proponent of Gothic Revival and designed St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church in the style.  Anchored on the 35th Street corner by a muscular bell tower that was doubled in height by its soaring steeple, the church was faced in brownstone.  Pointed-arched openings, buttresses, and a central rose window carried out the Gothic design.  (St. John the Baptist would be one of Wills's last projects.  He died at the age of 35 in 1857, a year after submitting the designs.)

St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church sat among brownstone mansions.  The American Metropolis, 1897 (copyright expired)

In his 1897 The American Metropolis, Frank Moss described the church as, "a most enchanting little bit of architecture, and it is so placed on the hill as to show its proportions to the very best advantage."  The new edifice sat among the mansions of Murray Hill millionaires and, according to Moss, "its congregation was large, wealthy and influential."  The tranquility of the neighborhood and the congregation would soon be strained as the rumbles of war grew louder.  Frank Moss recounted:

...in the days that tried men's souls, and when a very large proportion of the district's population was in sympathy with rebellion and riot, that church and its membership stood firmly for the abolition of slavery and the perpetuity of the Union, and were a tower of strength for the National cause.  The young men of the congregation and the neighborhood enlisted for the war under its flag.

As was the case with many congregations, the women gathered to make bandages and send supplies to the Union army.  They also hand-stitched the American flag that hung over the church entrance.  "When Fort Sumter was fired on, the ladies made the flag and the men hoisted it upon the building, and there it flew continuously to the end of the war," recounted Moss.

During the draft riots of 1863, a mob descended on St. John the Baptist.  "A demand was made that the flag should be hauled down," wrote Moss.  A trustee, fearing that the church and parsonage would be burned, lowered the flag.  But another trustee, "ran in and raised it again."  At the end of the war, the flag was taken down and sealed in a glass-fronted case encased in a wall inside the church.

The 2,000-pound bronze bell that hung in the tower caused upheaval in the spring of 1882.  Jared M. Bell and his family lived across down the street at 248 Lexington Avenue.  He complained to Rev. Duffie about the loud clanging.  According to Bell, Duffie, "promised to abate the nuisance as far as lay in his power."  By May 13, as far as Bell was concerned, nothing had changed and he filed a complain with the Board of Health.  It said in part,

This hideous noise is utterly unnecessary to the worship of God, and...forms no part of it, and is simply a relic of the times when there were few if any watches or clocks in the community whereby people could learn the hour of repairing to the sanctuary.

Saying the tolling of the bell was "detrimental to public health and ruinous to property," Jared W. Bell sought to have it "abolished and forever prevented."  In the bell's defense, Rev. Duffie told a reporter from The New York Times that whenever a nearby resident was ill, the tolling of the bell was ceased and in one case had been silent for six weeks.  He knew of many residents "who were very fond of hearing the bell ring," he said.  (Because press coverage ended, it is unclear who won the battle of the bell.)

In 1893, St. John the Baptist merged with the congregation of the Church of the Epiphany.  The joined congregations used the Lexington Avenue structure, but took the name of the older congregation, Epiphany. (The Mission Church of the Epiphany was established in January 1833.)  Rev. Dr. Duffie remained as rector emeritus of the combined parishes.  Shortly afterward, he installed a stained glass window in the chancel as a memorial to his father, Rev. Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie, Sr.

After serving his parish for its entire existence, Rev. Dr. Cornelius R. Duffie died at his summer home in Leitchfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1900 at the age of 79.  In addition to his work here, he had been the chaplain of Columbia College for 25 years.  His funeral was held in the Church of the Epiphany on July 11.

The following year, Rev. Edward L. Atkinson was appointed rector of the Church of the Epiphany.  The 36-year-old was described by the New-York Tribune as, "Tall, slight and fair haired, and having an especially cheerful disposition."  In July the following year, he left for a two-month vacation, going first to visit priest friends in Manchester and Plymouth, Massachusetts before traveling to the Catskills.  A week later, on August 2, 1902, the New-York Tribune titled an article, "New-York Minister Drowned."

Atkinson was at a friend's summer cottage on Boot Pond near Plymouth.  The article said, "He went out rowing and fell overboard.  The body has not been recovered."

Apartment buildings had replaced high-stooped mansions by the Depression years.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

By January 1908, when the Church of the Epiphany celebrated its 75th anniversary, the Murray Hill neighborhood had changed.  The Living Church, on February 1, commented, "The present Epiphany Church is located at Lexington Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, with homes of the well-to-do on one side, and apartments of the not so well-to-do on the other."

The trend continued and on January 24, 1936, The New York Times remarked, "Vast changes have swept over that district in recent years, and the growing demands of trade have usurped much of the land formerly given over to private residences."  As a result, said the article, the Church of the Epiphany "will vacate within a few days its edifice at the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street as the first step in its plan to sell the property and build a new church on the upper East Side."  The congregation would temporarily share St. Thomas Chapel at 230 East 60th Street before erecting a new building on York Avenue at 74th Street.

Two views of the interior during demolition.  from the collection of the Library of Congress.

Frank Wills's 1856 structure survived three more years, demolished in 1939 for an apartment building that remains.

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Congregation Ezrath Israel -- The Actors' Temple -- 339 West 47th Street

 

In September 1922, architect Sidney P. Oppenheim filed plans to dramatically remodel a "four story brick tenement" for the West Side Hebrew Relief Association, Inc.  The old structure (it was built around 1869) was, in fact, a high-stooped brownstone which had been converted to a rooming house.  Oppenheim's far-reaching plans called for new floors, new interior walls, "new exterior, new front."

The house was transformed into a synagogue faced in sandy-colored brick.  It was home to Congregation Ezrath Israel (Help of Israel), founded in 1917.  Vaguely neo-Georgian in style, the building's focal point was the large, centered arch that embraced the stained glass rose window.

In the post-World War I years, the most conservative of churches and synagogues still considered the theater to be sinful.  People involved in the theater were not welcomed by those institutions.  This synagogue was conveniently near the entertainment district, however, and when actor-comedian Red Baxter began worshiping at Ezrath Israel, Rabbi Bernard Birstein welcomed him.

Birstein was born in 1892 in Poland and had come to America in 1912.  Word of his warm reception to actors and entertainers spread.  Before long, the congregation was a mix of long-time neighborhood residents and stage celebrities.  

Rabbi Birstein discovered that having well-known members in his congregation had its advantages.  He instituted what would become an annual benefit.  According to Birstein's daughter, Ann, in her 1982 book The Rabbi on 47th Street, the events featured performances by the likes of Sophie Tucker; Jimmy Durante and his vaudeville team Clayton, Jackson and Durante; Red Buttons; Eddie Cantor; Jack Benny; Edward G. Robinson; and Milton Berle.  Within a few years, Congregation Ezrath Israel had earned the nickname, The Actors' Temple.  

The benefit would be staged every February for years.  On January 28, 1933, the Greenpoint Daily Star reported, 

With Eddie Cantor and George Jessel as honorary chairmen, Broadway stage stars are rallying to the support of the charity show to be given in aid of Temple Ezrath Israel at the Casino Theater on Sunday evening, February 5.  This annual theatrical affair helps considerably to maintain the synagogue, located at 339 West Forty-seventh street, where the actors come to pray and mourn for the dead.

More somber, of course, were those many funerals and memorial services which were routinely held here.  On April 16, 1927, for instance, The Vaudeville News reported, "N.V.A. [National Vaudeville Artists] members are respectfully invited to attend a Memorial Service on Sunday, April 24, 1927, at 11 A. M. at the Ezrath Israel Synagogue, 339 West 47th St., New York City."

On July 12, 1941, The New York Times reported on the memorial service for theatrical producer Sam H. Harris.  The article said 200 friends and former associates were present.  "George M. Cohan, former partner of Mr. Harris, had been asked to speak...but had declined, saying, 'I was too close to Sam Harris.  I couldn't go through with it.'"

Rabbi Bernard Birstein died in 1959 at the age of 67.  On November 15, The New York Times reported that "Congregation Ezrath Israel, more familiarly known as the Actors Temple," had hired Rabbi Moshay P. Mann.

image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Things were changing in the neighborhood and within the congregation.  Following World War II the motion picture industry drew celebrities to the West Coast.  And the neighborhood generally declined.  The 16th Precinct police stationhouse, just steps away, was demolished in 1972 and the station moved to a new building on West 54th Street.  Within weeks, on October 9, the shul was broken into and $500 worth of silver breastplates, used to adorn the Torah, were stolen.  (The items were later discovered in a pawnshop.)

On November 18, 1978, Leslie Maitland, writing in The New York Times, began an article saying,

Edward G. Robinson conducted services.  Toots Shor, Tony Martin and Red Buttons came to pray.  And when the rabbi had trouble gathering a minyan of 10 Jewish men at the Actors' Temple, the old 16th Precinct station a few doors down on 47th Street could be counted on to provide it.

But times have changed.

Edward G. Robinson is dead.  Red Buttons lives in California.  The police station has been torn down.  The police officers who visit now do not come to pray.

Those police officers were, instead, were coming to investigate vandalism.  Teens threw rocks through the windows, spray painted swastikas on the walls, and "shout[ed] obscenities at its leaders," according to Maitland.

Label Malamud had been cantor here for three decades.  Pointing to the school next door to the synagogue, he asked Maitland, "You think they go to school with pencils?  These days they carry knives.  They could make me a head shorter than I already am.  Frankly, I am afraid."  A month before the article, the synagogue's outdoor Succoth decorations had been destroyed.

In response, the congregation had installed a $2,000 burglar alarm system and covered the stained glass windows with plywood--among them memorial windows to Joe E. Lewis, Sophie Tucker and theatrical agent Joe Glaser.

On November 29, 2006, Campbell Robertson of The New York Times wrote, "Recently--say, oh, during the last half-century--this temple, with a declining membership and a vanishing budget, has not been doing so well."  In a desperate attempt to buoy its finances, the members of Congregation Ezrath Israel had decided to offer its auditorium as an Off Broadway venue.  The first play, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, opened on November 30, 2006.

It had not been an easy decision.  Congregation members discussed--and fought--it for more than a year.  Member Rich Schussel explained, "There was, first of all, the fundamental question of whether it was appropriate to open an active temple to show business.  And then the practical matters: if a show has a big, immovable set, what do you do for Friday and Saturday services?"

Vice president of the board, Mike Libien, said, "Not everyone was happy about it."  But, given the financial situation, "we really had no choice."

Nearly two decades later, the unlikely bedfellows continue to coexist as Congregation Ezrath Israel and the Actors' Temple Theater.

photograph by the author

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The Lost Scotch Presbyterian Church - 53 West 14th Street

 

G. Stacy produced this cabinet-card of the Scotch Presbyterian Church in 1863.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

A schism developed within the First Presbyterian Church (better known as the Wall-Street Church) in 1756.  Unable to resolve the heated issue, a faction broke away, forming the First Associate Reformed Church.  (The name eventually became the Scotch Presbyterian Church).  One historian would later describe the turmoil as a disagreement over which version of the Psalms to use, while King's Handbook of New York in 1892 would recall, "The chief cause of the formation of the new society was difference of opinion regarding the use of musical instruments in the church."

The congregation erected its first church on Cedar Street, and in 1836 began construction of a handsome Greek Revival structure on the corner of  Grand and Crosby Streets.  The wealth of the congregation was reflected in the cost of that building, completed in 1837.  According to the New-York Daily Tribune, it cost "$120,000, of which the edifice cost $80,000."  That total outlay would equal just under $3.8 million in 2024.

The Cedar Street church.  rendering by Alexander Jackson Davis, May 15, 1830, original source unknown.

The Grand Street church, etching by F.B Nichols, B. Forrest, and William Wellstood, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

As fashionable society moved northward, so did the Scotch Presbyterian Church.  On May 10, 1852, the New-York Daily Tribune reported that the trustees had applied to the State Supreme Court "for leave to sell the church and grounds at the north-east corner of Grand and Crosby sts."  The article explained, "The object is to remove the church further up town, not above 14th-st."  Most of the "principal members" of the congregation, said the article, had already moved to the upscale neighborhood just west of Union Square.

West 14th Street was lined with the brick and brownstone mansions of millionaires like Frederick Havemeyer, his cousin William Havemeyer, and Andrew Norwood.  The church acquired property on the north side of 14th Street just east of Sixth Avenue and extending through to West 15th Street.  In 1853, "a still more costly structure" was erected, according to J. Alexander Patten in his 1874 Lives of the Clergy of New York and Brooklyn.  A schoolhouse was built on the 15th Street portion of the plot.  

King's Handbook of New York described the new church as "a large stone building, in the Italian Gothic style."  The architect borrowed elements of Sicilian Gothic, notably in the close-fitting portico, the rounded openings, and the wheel-like rose window.  Long corbel tables ran below the eaves, while the unusual tower rose to a crenellated peak.

The school behind the church operated as both a private day school and a Sunday school.  It was self-sustaining, operating on a fund of $50,000 "obtained from certain real estate bequeathed for the purpose by Alexander Robertson," according to Patten.

The Scotch Presbyterian Church was routinely the venue for meetings of the New York Presbytery, including clerical trials.  On November 11, 1890, for instance, The Sun reported that the Presbytery had met the previous day "to investigate the charges brought by the Rev. E. P. Payson of the Prospect Hill church against the Rev. R. H. McCready of Montgomery, Orange county."  Payson accused McCready of accepting a gift from his congregation of $400, "to which he is not entitled."

A much more sensational trial began here two years later.  On November 11, 1892, The Evening World wrote, "The trial of the famous Briggs heresy case before the Presbytery of New York begins this afternoon in the Scotch Presbyterian Church in West Fourteenth street."  The prosecuting committee had been working on its case against the Rev. Dr. Charles Augustus Briggs for more than a year and a half.  The Evening World explained, "The charge against Dr. Briggs accuses him of teaching doctrines to the students of the Union Theological Seminary which are in conflict with the Bible; and contrary to the Presbyterian standards."

Rev. Charles Augustus Briggs, from the collection of Columbia University's Burke Library

Among his purported heresies were the suggestion that there may have been errors in the Holy Scripture, that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch, and that the Book of Isaiah was not written by Isaiah.  

Nearly a month later, on December 5, Briggs was called to testify on his own behalf.  The indignant clergyman presented a raft of evidence, The Sun reporting,

He submitted the whole of the Scriptures, the Old Testament in Hebrew and the Septuagint version, the Greek New Testament, the King James version of the Bible, and the revised version.  He also submitted the Standards of the Church, which had already been offered by his opponents.  He read several extracts from the Confession, and followed them up by submitting a great mass of documentary evidence.

Each time Briggs made what appeared to be a salient point, the onlookers in the galleries exploded in applause.  The Sun said it, "showed very plainly where the sympathy of the galleries was."  Enraged prosecutors finally threatened to clear the galleries "if the offense was repeated."

In the end, Briggs was excommunicated and defrocked in 1893.   He converted to Episcopalianism and thrived within that church.

At the time of the highly publicized trial, the Scotch Presbyterian Church was preparing to move again.  West 14th Street, once a residential enclave of wealth and fashion, was now one of stores, boarding houses and apartments.  In 1892, Dr. Charles Henry Parkhurst said the trustees "exhibited cowardice" in planning to move uptown.  The Examiner, a Baptist newspaper, came to their defense.  "A Protestant church cannot sustain itself below Fourteenth Street," it stressed, adding, "It must move or die."

When this photograph was taken by Robert L. Bracklow on September 16, 1887, commerce was already engulfing the block around the church.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The trustees had acquired the southwest corner of Central Park West and 96th Street.  They commissioned the architectural firm of William H. Hume & Son to design what The New York Times would call "an imposing Romanesque pile" on the site.  

On October 2, 1893, The New York Times reported, "For the last time the congregation of the Scotch Presbyterian Church assembled yesterday morning in the old edifice in Fourteenth Street, near Sixth Avenue."  The following month, on November 28, The World reported, "The old Scotch Presbyterian Church...will hereafter be known as 'Metropolitan Hall,' the Rev. C. H. Yatman having held the first of a series of daily revival services there last night."

The article recalled, "Only last year Dr. Charles Briggs was tried there for heresy, but from now on the building will be the scene of a religious movement that knows no creed.  At 8 o'clock last night there were a thousand people in the hall."  The current revivalist movement was a renewal of what was known as the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century.  The World said, 

The interior of the church has been entirely remodelled and now looks more like a pleasure resort than a place of worship.  The pews have been taken out and replaced by chairs and upon the stage-like platform stands a piano.  The spirit of the Presbyterian Assembly has departed.

The building's life as Metropolitan Hall was relatively short-lived.  On May 11, 1895, the Record & Guide reported that Nathan Straus had purchased the church.  "We are informed that this property will be improved by the erection of a large mercantile building and will probably be occupied by R. H. Macy & Co," said the article.

Straus replaced the church with a commercial building, but not for R. H. Macy & Co.  (In 1897 a Macy structure was erected directly across the street at 56 West 14th Street).  Straus leased the new building that engulfed the entire former church property through to West 15th Street to Samuel D. Babcock & George P. Slade.  That building was demolished for an apartment building, completed in 1962.

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The Lost Bloomingdale Reformed Church - 949 West End Avenue

from the Robert L. Bracklow photograph collection of the New-York Historical Society

 

In 1805, the village of Harsenville occupied the area known today as Lincoln Square, far to the north of New York City.  That year a group of residents headed by Jacob Harsen established the Bloomingdale Reformed Dutch Church.  Over the subsequent decades the congregation swelled, as did its finances.  In 1884 architect Samuel B. Reed designed a large Gothic Revival church structure at the northeast corner of Broadway and 68th Street.

The imposing 1884-85 Broadway structure sat on the site of the third church building.  The New York of Yesterday, 1908 (copyright expired)

In 1905, according to Hopper Striker Mott in his 1908 The New York of Yesterday, the congregation concluded (not "without some opposition") that "the neighborhood was 'overchurched.'"  Within a half-mile radius were three Episcopal, two Presbyterian, two Lutheran, one Reformed, one Congregational, one Methodist, and one Christian Science church.  On April 24 negotiations were completed for the sale of the Broadway property for $260,000, and lots on West End Avenue midblock between 106th and 107th Street were purchased for $160,000.  The new site faced what was then known as Bloomingdale Square.  The two transactions left the congregation with a comfortable building fund. 

The 1885 structure was beloved to congregants and, according to Hopper Striker Mott, "it was determined to take down the edifice stone by stone and put it together again at the new location."  The architectural firm of Ludlow & Valentine was given the commission to carry out the ungainly scheme.

The firm's plans were filed in July 1905.  Ludlow & Valentine placed the construction costs at $70,000, or about $2.4 million in 2023.  Four months later, on November 12, the cornerstone was laid.  The Christian Intelligencer said the service "was impressive in its orderly dignity." 

Deconstruction of the Broadway building proceeded carefully, slowing the progress on the new structure.  Workmen conscientiously removed limestone blocks so they could be reused in the new church.  

Nearly a year later, on October 7, 1906, the first service was held in the still uncompleted structure.  It came the day after New Yorkers read of a macabre incident at the Broadway site.  With the old church structure removed, workmen began excavating the crypt below ground where 121 bodies were interred.  The New-York Tribune reported, "the removal was delayed because of the condition in which the bodies were found."  The article continued:

The coffins have entirely rotted away, and all that indicates that they ever occupied the vault are a few pieces of decayed wood not yet disintegrated.  The flesh of the bodies long ago changed to dust.  The remnants of the coffins and of the bodies are mingled, forming a heap of dust and human bones.  The work is made more difficult by the lack of a masonry bottom to the vault.

Ludlow & Valentine, of course, could not reproduce the large Broadway building, which sat on a corner lot, within the midblock site.  However, they valiantly emulated its architectural spirit, nearly copying the Gothic-arched entrance below a large stained glass window.  Especially interesting were the flying buttresses that sprung from either side of the midsection.   Hopper Striker Mott said, "Taken as a whole, it forms one of the most beautiful of the many fine churches which adorn the west side."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The interior was faced in stone, "presenting the aspect of a cathedral," according to Mott.  The pews and other furnishings were of oak and upholstered in green.  What remained of the 121 bodies removed from the old crypt now reposed in a "receptacle built in the wall," with the original memorial tablet from the former church reinstalled on the wall.

There would be two magnificent memorial windows, dedicated in separate services on December 30 1906.  The first, the Pyatt window, was dedicated that morning.  Runyon Pyatt was an elder of the church whose family arrived in America on the Mayflower.  The window, designed by John La Farge, was dedicated to his parents.

The Pyatt Window, The New York of Yesterday, 1908 (copyright expired)

Receiving considerable more press attention was the Gilbert Window, also designed by La Farge, which was dedicated at the afternoon service.  Anne Hartley Gilbert, known to theater audiences as Mrs. G. H. Gilbert, had been a member of the Bloomingdale Reformed Church for years.  The New York Times wrote, "So far as known, this window is with one exception, the only one in any church in this country erected in memory of a member of the theatrical profession."  (The other was the window to the memory of actor Edwin Booth in the Church of the Transfiguration, or "The Little Church Around the Corner.")  

The dedication service was attended by a who's who of the New York theater, including producers Charles and Daniel Frohman, and world-famous actors Annie Russell, Maude Adams, and John Drew.  Yet Hopper Striker Mott noted, "The stage friends of the late actress were greatly outnumbered by those of the congregation that knew her apart from her profession."

The Gilbert Window by John La Farge.  The New York of Yesterday, 1908 (copyright expired)

At a time when religious leaders most often considered the theater a place of immorality, the memorial within a church was notable.  The New York Times reported that in his address, Dr. William C. Stinson called Mrs. Gilbert "a woman whose virtues reflected honor on the Church and on the stage."

Dr. Stinson's esteem of Anne Hartley Gilbert did not dilute his ability to criticize the theater at large.  In his sermon on February 14, 1909, he lashed out at the production of Salome at the Manhattan Theatre.  In reporting on his heated comments, The New York Times mentioned, "This church contains a window in memory of Mrs. William Henry Gilbert, the actress, who was spoken of as 'the saintliest old lady of the modern stage.'"  There was nothing saintly in the play Salome, according to Dr. Stinson.

But while decrying the producers for staging the production, he blamed theater-goers for inducing them to do so.  "If the public want to pay the price for exhibitions of gross barbaric lewdness, with musical accompaniment, however much their souls may be debauched in the meanwhile, why, that is their concern."

from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

New Yorkers were no doubt astounded when they read in the New-York Tribune on April 30, 1913--just seven years after the Bloomingdale Reformed Church was completed--that developer and builder Harry Schiff had purchased the property for $300,000.  Calling it "a deal of more than ordinary interest to the west side," the newspaper said it "means the passing away of one of the fine church edifices in that part of the city and the use of the site for a big apartment house."  Before the church was demolished, the Gilbert Window was removed to the Hamilton Grange Reformed Church on Convent Avenue.  Shortly afterward, the Bloomingdale Reformed Church congregation disbanded.

The apartment building that replaced the Bloomingdale Reformed Church survives.  image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

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