The Greater Central Baptist Church at 2158 Fifth Avenue

The last church on Fifth Avenue is unfortunately one of the most uninteresting – at least, from an architectural standpoint.  Built in the 1950s for its present congregation, the Greater Central Baptist Church at 2158 Fifth Avenue is an important center of gospel music. Stained glass brightens the interior.

Just Off Fifth: St. Ambrose Episcopal Church at 15 West 130th Street

St. Ambrose Episcopal Church at 15 West 130th Street is a craggy structure designed by James W. Pirsson in 1873-1875 for the Presbyterian Church of the Puritans.  Grounded in the Romanesque Revival work popularized by the great Boston-based architect Henry Hobson Richardson, it packs a monumental sense of mass into a relatively small structure. Pirsson… Continue reading

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 2067 Fifth Avenue

An accomplished Gothic Revival design from Henry Martyn Congden, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church was built in 1872.  A New York City landmark since 1980, its piercing clock tower is 125 ft. tall. Congden was a noted church architect whose designs for the Episcopal Church were built from Westerly, RI, to Cheyenne, WY.  At St. Andrew’s,… Continue reading

41 West 124th Street, The Church of Antioch

41 West 124th Street, now the Church of Antioch, is a battered but still commanding survivor from the Mount Morris Park District’s brownstone days.  A growth of ivy adds a picturesque note to its appearance – but the coat of white paint was a mistake.

The Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church

Called “one of the oddest church buildings in New York” by historian Andrew Dolkart, the astonishing Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church is a massive pile of Romanesque, Classical and High Eclectic effects that maintains a fortress-like presence on its corner.  The interior is almost equally unusual; architect Thomas H. Poole designed the building in 1905-1906…. Continue reading