The Marble Collegiate Church, founded in 1628, is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America.Located at 272 Fifth Avenue at the corner of West 29th Street New York, New York.
It was built in 1851–54 and was designed by Samuel A. Warner in Romanesque Revival style with Gothic trim. Originally called the Fifth Avenue Church, it was renamed in 1906 for its facade of Tuckahoe marble.
The church congregation was founded in 1628 as the Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church, a Calvinist church in the Netherlands. During its first 150 years, Marble shared its ministers with the other Collegiate congregations as they developed in the city. This pooling of pastoral ministry was abandoned in 1871.
Norman Vincent Peale, the noted author of The Power of Positive Thinking, served as senior minister from 1932 to 1984. Under Peale’s ministry Marble’s influence reached national levels and it became known as “America’s Hometown Church”. On November 19, 1961, actress and comedian, Lucille Ball married her second husband Gary Morton in the church.
The church takes an LGBT-welcoming, open and affirming approach to same-gender relationships and non-cisgender identities. This includes the performing of same-sex marriage ceremonies, a designated queer fellowship (GIFTS), annual participation in the NYC Pride parade.
The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1967, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.