St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Begun in 1858 and only reaching its present form in 1931, St. Patrick’s Cathedral was designed by James Renwick Jr., one of the foremost of New York’s Gothic Revival architects. Equally adept in other styles, he also designed the Italianate castle of the original Smithsonian Institute and the Main Building at Vassar College in the… Continue reading
Marble Collegiate Church
Founded in 1628 as one of the first Dutch Reform congregations in North America, Marble Collegiate Church is the third building to serve its worshippers. Constructed in 1851 – 1854 to designs by Samuel Warner, Marble Collegiate Church augmented two older churches downtown (neither now standing) with a Gothic-Romanesque hybrid in Tuckahoe marble that was… Continue reading
First Presbyterian Church, 48 Fifth Avenue
A beautiful 1846 design by the English-born architect Joseph C. Wells, First Presbyterian Church (also known as “Old First”) stands at 48 Fifth Avenue. Along with the apartment house across the street at 45 Fifth, the church marks the northern boundary on Fifth Avenue of the Greenwich Village Historic District. Old First makes an interesting… Continue reading
Church of the Ascension, 36-38 Fifth Avenue
Standing at 36 – 38 Fifth Avenue, the Church of the Ascension is one of the great Gothic Revival designs of Richard Upjohn, best known for the slightly earlier Trinity Church at Broadway and Wall Street. Constructed in 1840 – 1841, Ascension is simpler than Upjohn’s Wall Street masterpiece, in keeping with what was then… Continue reading