50 Oldest Churches of NYC: First Free Congregational Church

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The former First Free Congregational Church, 311 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, New York has a simple, rectangular shape and temple front, is one of the few remaining examples of the vernacular Greek Revival building popular in the mid-nineteenth-century. The Greek Revival temple was erected 1846 to 1847.

The “Free” in the name refers to the policy of not charging a rental fee for its pews. The building has changed hands many times, and by 1854 it housed the oldest African American congregation in Brooklyn. Then known as the Bridge Street Church and was the worship space of the African Weslyan Methodist Episcopal  Church which used the basement to hide escaping slaves. It was the first independent black church in Brooklyn.

It is now the student center for the Polytechnic Institute of New York University. The church building is now called the Wunsch Building and houses the school’s Undergraduate Admissions offices. It is used to host many social, cultural, and academic events for the school and community.

It has been designated a historic landmark since November 24, 1981.

 

 

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Beth Hamidrash Hagodol Synagogue

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Beth Hamidrash Hagodol Synagogue was the prototypical American synagogue for early immigrant Eastern European Jews, who began entering the United States in large numbers only in the 1870s. They found the synagogues of the German Jewish immigrants who preceded them to be unfamiliar, both religiously and culturally.

The congregation was founded in 1852 and they moved to various various buildings on the Lower East Side before finally settling into the location that would become their permanent home at 60 Norfolk Street. They purchased a Gothic Revival style building, which had once operated as a church for two different Christian denominations, in 1885 for $45,000.

Originally built in 1850 as the Norfolk Street Baptist Church, it was sold to a Methodist congregation in 1860.

This synagogue was a striking example of Gothic Revival architecture and once housed the oldest orthodox congregation of Russian Jews in the United States.  

Rabbi Jacob Joseph, the first and only Chief Rabbi of New York City, led the congregation from 1888 to 1902. Born in Kovno, Lithuania in 1848, he studied in the Volozhin yeshiva where he was known as “Rav Yaakov Charif” because of his sharp mind.

The Lower East Side and New York City preservation communities were desperately working to restore the building to its original splendor, but there was a fire there on Mother’s Day 2017, and the building had to be torn down due to instability.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Christ Church and Holy Family

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The Christ Church and Holy Family  parish located in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn was organized in 1835, and the church building was completed in 1841-42.

Christ Church was founded on the wave of affluence and confident urban expansion following the opening of the Erie Canal, an economic transformation wrought in both New York City and Brooklyn in the 1830s.

It was designed in the English Gothic Revival style by Richard Upjohn who designed Trinity Church, Wall Street in New York and the gates of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. He lived down the street.

The altar, altar railing, reredos, pulpit, lectern and chairs were added in 1917 and were designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

The parish holds an annual Saint Francis Festival in October, with Blessing of Animals. The church hosts a number of musical events throughout the year, especially as a part of the Gotham Early Music Society series, and yearly Christmas caroling through Cobble Hill.

The building was destroyed by fire in 1939, and was rebuilt. In recent years, the church has been difficult to maintain, and additionally suffered lightning strikes. The tower began to collapse in 2012, tragically killing a passer-by. The height of the tower was greatly reduced, a large amount of scaffolding was erected, all by order of the NYC Department of Buildings who also ordered that the nave be vacated.

Say Goodnight Gracie

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Theater in the Edge is opening its doors again after being closed for two years due to the pandemic. This theater company always accomplishes something truly  unique. This intimate space make you feel like you are living with the actors. The intricate and hyper realistic set design of Samantha DiGeorge instantly allows you to step back in time. I had been sketching for 15 minutes when Pam pointed out that the calendar on the wall was for 1979.

Good Night Gracie by Ralph Pape has a simple and straight forward story, friends are gathering to go to a high school reunion but in the hours that pass they get high and discover that none of them are living the life they hoped for.

House music included Pink Floyd so I felt instantly at home. Christopher Ivers as Steve entered and began rummaging through a cupboard for a can of soup. He ate the soup straight out of the can and I had to sketch this seemingly mundane moment.

Joshua Fulmer as Jerry entered and it it became cleat that Steve was an uninvited guest. These to were life long friend with plenty of baggage between them. Audra Torres as Jerry’s girlfriend had an accent I couldn’t quite place and seemed to lack confidence.

The rare exception is a performance by Natalie Bulajic as Catherine who embraced every moment. In describing her awakening in high school during the Cuban missile crisis she gave a performance that rivaled the dinner scene in When Harry Met Sally. It was the greatest laugh in the play. There were fun moments throughout as characters played off of one another. They however seemed stuck in time unable to escape the cycles that have played out since high school.

 

 

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: New Utrecht Reformed Church

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New Utrecht Reformed Church,  1827 83rd Street at 18th Avenue Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York is the fourth oldest Reformed Church in America.

The church was established in 1677 by ethnic Dutch residents in the town of New Utrecht, Brooklyn, several years after the English took over New Netherland (now Manhattan). Previously, the inhabitants of New Utrecht formed part of the congregations of Flatbush, Flatlands and Brooklyn.

The cemetery was consecrated in 1654 with 1300 dead interred there. The earliest recorded burial was in 1654. Members of such notable early Dutch settlers as the Van Pelts, Van Brunts, Cropseys, Cowenhovens and Bennetts are buried there.

During the Revolutionary War the British made New Utrecht their base of operations for the Battle of Long Island, the first large-scale British invasion of the colonies.

The Liberty Pole, the sixth on the site of the present church, was originally erected in 1783 at the end of the Revolutionary War to harass departing British troops. The Liberty Pole marks the spot over which the American flag first waved in the town of New Utrecht. The original pole was erected by our forefathers at the Evacuation of the British, November 1783, amid the firing of cannons and demonstration of joy.”

The present church was built in 1828 of stones taken from the original church, built in 1700. It is a rare example of a rural church in a picturesque setting in New York City. Construction was supervised by US Army engineer, Rene Edward De Russy, who led the construction of Fort Hamilton at New York harbor. The parish house was built in 1892 and the parsonage in 1906. This sketch is of the parish house.

The church was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966; the parish house and the cemetery received landmark status in 1998. Both the church and the cemetery are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Chelsea

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Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church, Chelsea, is a historic church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York at 344 West 20th Street Manhattan. It began as an outgrowth from the nearby General Theological Seminary, which had been founded in 1827.

After years in which local residents joined students and faculty from the Seminary for services, it became clear than a new, separate congregation was necessary, and this was organized on May 9, 1831.

Clement Clarke Moore, whose estate “Chelsea” gave the name to the neighborhood, and who donated the land of his apple orchard for the Seminary to be built on. He leased land to the new congregation, which he later deeded to it. He became an active member of the St. Peter’s congregation: at various times he was a warden, a vestryman, and the church organist.

A Greek revival-style chapel was built which was consecrated on February 4, 1831. Five years later, builder James W. Smith began constructing the present Gothic revival church from designs made by Moore, and this present church building was consecrated on February 22, 1838; the chapel became the church’s rectory.

The wrought-iron fence in front of the church is older than the church and the rectory. It dates from c.1790, and was originally part of the second incarnation of Trinity Church, the primary and oldest Episcopal congregation in New York City at the time. It was moved to St. Peter’s sometime in the 1830s. The clock in the church’s bell tower was installed in 1888, and it operated without interruption until April 1949, when a hand on one of its faces broke loose.

The third building in the complex is the East Hall, which was constructed beginning in 1854 and had a church-like facade added in 1871. It is now used by the Atlantic Theatre Company as their main stage, the Linda Gross Theatre. The entire church complex is part of the Chelsea Historic District, which was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1970 and extended in 1981.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Congregation Anshe Slonim

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Constructed in 1849-50, Congregation Anshe Slonim Synagogue, at 172 Norfolk St. on the Lower East Side, was commissioned for Congregation Anshe Chesed, the third Jewish congregation to be established in New York. This large and influential congregation was also the second group in New York to embrace the Jewish Reform movement.

The land the building stands on was once owned by peg leg Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of New Amsterdam. He wanted to evict the Jews from the Dutch West India Company, saying, “The Jews who have arrived would nearly all like to remain here, but learning that they—with their customary usury and deceitful trading with Christians—were very repugnant, and fearing that owing to their present indigence they might become a charge in the coming winter, we have deemed it useful to require them in a friendly way to depart; praying most seriously that the deceitful race be not allowed further to infect and trouble this new colony.“His bigoted request was denied by the Dutch West India Company.

After his death the land went to his daughter Cornelia Stuyvesant. After she died the land ended up in the hands of Daniel Rhoades, who sold them to “The Trustees of the Congregation of Anshi Chesed,” on April 11, 1849.

Early members of the congregation were part of a wave of recent Ashkenazi—that is, European Jews—immigrants from Germany, Holland, and Poland, and were “of a low social and economic status” according to the preservation commission. It was once home to one of the city’s—and the country’s—largest Jewish congregations.

The neighborhood changed and the building faced neglect and disrepair over the years. In 1986 Spanish sculptor Angel Orensanz, who wandered by while looking for studio space fell in love with the then decrepit building. Every stained glass window was broken and vandals had caused severe damage. Regardless, he purchased the building for $500,000. He  installed water and electricity, replaced windows, and repaired the roof. He estimated that he poured $5 million into the restoration. He had a dream of converting the building into an artist colony, with living and studio space, but that never came to be. Instead in 1988  the Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts was officially inaugurated. Eventually it housed a studio for Orensanz and a gallery of his work. It is used as a arts, culture, and events center.

The building is a landmark of New York City Jewish history, its official Landmarks Preservation Commission status was bestowed in 1987. It no longer is home to a religious congregation but it is a home for those who worship the arts.

Old Barracks Trenton New Jersey

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The Old Barracks Museum preserves the history of a building constructed in 1758 as a French and Indian War military barracks, used as winter quarters for British soldiers.

Throughout the Revolutionary War, the Barracks was used for a variety of purposes by both the British and the Americans. British prisoners of war were held in the Officers’ House, four companies of the Second New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line were raised here, and in 1777 the Barracks became an army hospital under Dr. Bodo Otto, who oversaw smallpox inoculations for the Continental Army.

The Barracks, and Trenton, are most known for the events of December 1776. At the beginning of the month, British and Hessian troops occupied Trenton, and briefly stayed in the Barracks prior to the Battles of Trenton. Colonists, loyal to the English king, also arrived, seeking protection from the soldiers, and were believed to be staying at the Barracks when Washington and his troops marched into Trenton on the morning of December 26th. After the miraculously successful Battles of Trenton and Princeton, the Americans returned to Trenton in January 1777 and made use of the now empty Barracks, primarily as the aforementioned hospital.

At the beginning of the 20th century, members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames organized The Old Barracks Association and spearheaded a campaign to purchase the building. The building has been a museum for over a century, and has frequently been used as a symbol for the state of New Jersey.

Russia is the Virus

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“Russia is COVID-22, and the vaccine against it is weapons and sanctions.” This is paraphrasing what Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zalensky said about Russia’s invasion of Europe. He called on the world and, above all, the most influential countries to ensure the defeat of tyranny.

“It is time to be one hundred percent influential. We can defeat tyranny. Indeed, every one of us – every one – is the leader of our time. We can reliably defend freedom. We can stop blackmail by a person who has no place on our list at all. If we are up to it, then we must do it. Because influence obliges us to do so,” he said in a video message to the Time 100 Gala distributed on the morning of June 9, 2022.

“The Russian army is shelling our cities with artillery and aircraft. The list of children killed by Russian strikes since February 24 already includes more than two hundred and sixty names. And when will this end? In fact, this is the key question. But why is there still no answer? Maybe we are missing something in our true strength? Maybe we are not using all the capacity of our influence and our leadership? And this is my question to the United States, both to the parties and to society; to both Democrats and Republicans; to the Congress and to the President,” Zelensky said, noting that he is “grateful to President Biden for uniting the free world when the Russian threat arose.”

“Hatred is a virus, and it’s even more deadly than COVID-19. It is spread through propaganda. Thanks to the impunity for murderers. Thanks to Russian oil, which is still on the global market. Thanks to money that is still flowing between the global financial system and Russian banks. Thanks to the big companies, which still believe that there is still not enough blood on the money from the Russian market,” he declared.