50 Oldest Churches of NYC: St Peters – St Paul’s of

Posted on by Thor

 

 

 

In September 1836, Irish immigrant, Cornelius Heeney donated a portion of his land for the site of a new Catholic church that had been proposed for residents living on the southwest side of Fulton Street. When the new St. Paul’s Church was built, it occupied a large field on the corner of Heeney’s farm, now the corner of Congress and Court Streets.

At 234 Congress St, Brooklyn, N.Y., much of St. Paul’s church at Court and Congress Streets was designed and built about 1838 by Gamaliel King, one of the architects of Brooklyn Borough Hall, allowing the claim that this church is the oldest Catholic church in continuous use in Brooklyn. Dedication of the completed edifice took place on January 21, 1838, with the Bishop of the Diocese of New York, John DuBois, presiding. Less then ten years later, on May 3, 1848, Heeney passed away. His body was buried in the back garden of the church.

Over the years, there have been so many additions and renovations that very little remains of King’s original design. The steeple was added in the 1860’s, and other enlargements were made. The church fronts on Court Street, the chapel and former rectory on Congress Street. For a while, the parish had three names: St. Peter (from the church on Hicks Street that is now a condo), Our Lady of Pilar, and St. Paul. The signs now name it as the parish of St. Peter and St. Agnes, with services alternating between the two church buildings.

 

50 Oldest Churches of NYC: Saint James Roman Catholic Church

Posted on by Thor

Saint James Roman Catholic Church located at 32 James Street between St. James Place and Madison Street in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, is the second oldest Roman Catholic building in the city, built in 1835–1837 of fieldstone, with a pair of Doric columns flanking the entrance. The building was once topped by a domed cupola.

The neo-classical church is modeled on the published designs by Minard Lefever, and is sometimes attributed to him, there is no hard evidence of this being true.

The parish was established by Bishop John Dubois in order to relieve the overcrowding at St. Peter’s on Barclay Street. He purchased an Episcopal church building on Ann Street, retaining the name of Christ Church, and asked Father Félix Varela to organize a congregation. Varela also established a free school.

In October 1833, it was discovered that nearby excavation had rendered Christ Church unsound. Pending the completion of a new building on James Street, premises were rented at 33 Ann Street. However, some members of the congregation found this too far uptown, and instead purchased the Reformed Presbyterian Church on Chambers Street. This would become the parish of the Transfiguration.

The first Mass was said in the basement of the James St. church on September 18, 1836.

The church was ordered to be closed by New York City officials in 1983, because of the danger of its roof collapsing. It was scheduled to be torn down in 1986, but was saved by the efforts of the community, especially the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the first branch of which was organized in the church in 1836. The building suffered significant damage in a fire on January 11, 2011. In 2007, St. James Parish merged with the nearby Parish of St. Joseph. The combined Parish of St. Joseph/St. James was merged again with the Church of the Transfiguration in 2015.