Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church
Hamilton Heights, Harlem, Manhattan
Hamilton Heights, Harlem, Manhattan
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, located on West 142nd Street near the Hamilton Heights Historic District and the uptown campus of City College, is one of the earliest and most notable examples of adaptive reuse in New York City. Built in 1902-1904 the architectural firm of O'Reilly Brothers, of Paterson, New Jersey, imaginatively incorporated into the new ecclesiastic structure stones salvaged from three of the City's most famous 19th century edifices: the National Academy of Design, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the A.T. Stewart Mansion. The picturesque National Academy, designed by P.E. Wight in Venetian Gothic style, which since 1865 had dominated the northwest corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South), provided the chief design elements and the main fabric of the church. The entire north end (apse) of Our Lady of Lourdes and a section of the east wall, visible from the cloister, is composed of architectural elements transposed from the original east end, facing Madison Avenue, of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The graceful late Gothic style windows became available for reuse after Charles T Mathews' plans for the new Lady Chapel, completed in 1906, were accepted by the Archdiocese.
Our Lady of Lourdes thus preserves an original portion of St, Patrick's Cathedral, a designated New York City Landmark which had been designed by the noted Gothic Revival architect, James Renwick Jr., and erected between 1858 and 1870. The elaborately carved pedestals, flanking the terraces of the steps leading to the entrance of the church were originally part of A.T. Stewart's grandiose "Marble Palace," designed by John Kellum, which had stood on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street since c. 1867 and was occupied by the prestigious Manhattan Club from 1891 until demolition in 1901 .
The resurrection of the old Academy of Design, some six miles away from its original site, was welcomed by the public. Although the church is not a duplicate of the original building, it still provides an interesting contrast in style and color to the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
- From the 1975 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church
Hamilton Heights, Harlem, Manhattan
Hamilton Heights, Harlem, Manhattan
Our Lady of Lourdes Roman Catholic Church, located on West 142nd Street near the Hamilton Heights Historic District and the uptown campus of City College, is one of the earliest and most notable examples of adaptive reuse in New York City. Built in 1902-1904 the architectural firm of O'Reilly Brothers, of Paterson, New Jersey, imaginatively incorporated into the new ecclesiastic structure stones salvaged from three of the City's most famous 19th century edifices: the National Academy of Design, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the A.T. Stewart Mansion. The picturesque National Academy, designed by P.E. Wight in Venetian Gothic style, which since 1865 had dominated the northwest corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South), provided the chief design elements and the main fabric of the church. The entire north end (apse) of Our Lady of Lourdes and a section of the east wall, visible from the cloister, is composed of architectural elements transposed from the original east end, facing Madison Avenue, of St. Patrick's Cathedral. The graceful late Gothic style windows became available for reuse after Charles T Mathews' plans for the new Lady Chapel, completed in 1906, were accepted by the Archdiocese.
Our Lady of Lourdes thus preserves an original portion of St, Patrick's Cathedral, a designated New York City Landmark which had been designed by the noted Gothic Revival architect, James Renwick Jr., and erected between 1858 and 1870. The elaborately carved pedestals, flanking the terraces of the steps leading to the entrance of the church were originally part of A.T. Stewart's grandiose "Marble Palace," designed by John Kellum, which had stood on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street since c. 1867 and was occupied by the prestigious Manhattan Club from 1891 until demolition in 1901 .
The resurrection of the old Academy of Design, some six miles away from its original site, was welcomed by the public. Although the church is not a duplicate of the original building, it still provides an interesting contrast in style and color to the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
- From the 1975 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report