50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint Paul’s Church

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Built in 1766, Saint Paul’s Chapel  is the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. It is a chapel building of Trinity Church, an episcopal parish, built on land granted by Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Saint Paul’s is located at 209 Broadway, between Fulton Street and Vesey Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City.

Built of Manhattan mica-schist, St. Paul’s has a classical portico, boxy proportions and domestic details that are characteristic of Georgian churches.  The church’s octagonal spire rises from a square base.

The church has historically been attributed to Thomas McBean, a Scottish architect. Recent documentation published by historian John Fitzhugh Millar suggests architect Peter Harrison may have instead been responsible for the structure’s design.

Upon completion in 1766, the church was the tallest building in New York City. It stood in a field some distance from the growing port city to the south and was built as a “chapel-of-ease” for parishioners who thought the mother church inconvenient to access.

The Hearts of Oak, militia unit organized early in the American Revolutionary War, was composed in part of King’s College students, who would drill in the Chapel’s yard before classes nearby. Alexander Hamilton was an officer of this unit. The chapel survived the Great New York City Fire of 1776 when a quarter of New York City (then confined to the lower tip of Manhattan), including Trinity Church, burned following the British capture of the city after the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War.

George Washington, along with members of the United States Congress, worshiped at St. Paul’s Chapel on his Inauguration Day, April 30, 1789. Washington also attended services at St. Paul’s during the two years New York City was the country’s capital. Above Washington’s pew is an 18th-century oil painting of the Great Seal of the United States, adopted in 1782.

The rear of St. Paul’s Chapel faces Church Street, opposite the east side of the World Trade Center site. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, which led to the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, St. Paul’s Chapel served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the WTC site. For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12-hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and others. Massage therapists, chiropractors, podiatrists and musicians also tended to their needs. The church survived without even a broken window. Church history declares it was spared by a miracle sycamore tree on the northwest corner of the property that was hit by falling debris. The tree’s root has been preserved in a bronze memorial by sculptor Steve Tobin.

In 1960, the chapel was named a National Historic Landmark; it was also made a New York City Landmark and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. When St. Paul’s Chapel remained standing after the September 11, 2001, attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center behind it, the chapel was subsequently nicknamed “The Little Chapel That Stood”.

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church

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Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church 890 Flatbush Avenue at Church Street, Brooklyn, New York, is a historic Dutch Reformed church – now a member of the Reformed Church in America. The church complex consists of the church, cemetery, parsonage and church house.

The land on which the complex sits has been in continuous use for religious purposes longer than any other in New York City. The congregation was founded in 1654 and the original church was built under the direction of Jan Gerritse Strijker at the order of Peter Stuyvesant.

The stone Federal style church building designed by Thomas Fardon was constructed in 1793-98 and is the third church building on the site. The stained glass windows are by Tiffany studios and commemorate the descendants of many early settlers of Flatbush. The building was constructed of Manhattan schist, and the architecture includes Romanesque features such as arched windows and doors. The church’s bell was imported from Holland, and paid for by John Vanderbilt.

The bodies of American soldiers who died in the Battle of Long Island during the American Revolutionary War are reportedly buried underneath the church structure. The cemetery is the last resting place for most of the founding families of Flatbush. The earliest legible grave marker dates to 1754.

The complex was initially designated a New York City Landmark in 1966, with the boundary expanded in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.