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.