Brooklyn church?

[thomasjfletcher]

Anybody recognise this church?? I've been asked to identify this old stereoscopic slide. The owner says that it's a NY church. I'm guessing it's maybe German-related (by the brickwork). Those spires are a curio.
thanks
Tom
www.nyc-architecture.com

http://www.coachchi.com/ginostuff/nyc-church.jpg

[jazzage]

Yes, Tom, I’m pleased to help.

Your stereopticon slide is of St. George’s Episcopal Church at East 16th St. and Rutherford Place in Manhattan.

The view is from near Third Ave. looking to the northeast towards Stuyvesant Square (visible to the right of the tower). The view is particularly notable since it is shows the structure without its roof immediately after the 1865 fire. Also visible are both of the now-vanished spires (everything above the level of the clockfaces is now gone), and the original church hall --to the left of the semi-circular apse. This barn-like church hall (or chapel?) was demolished and replaced by a far grander rectory in the 1880’s (still standing, and now converted to condos, I believe).

This is the church, by the way, where J. P. Morgan worshiped. Morgan was a lay officer of St. George’s and he also endowed and built the old NY Babies Hospital around the corner on the west side of Second Ave. between 17th & 18th Sts. just to the north of Stuyvesant Square (and still standing, though condos now also). The traditional rumor is that he built the hospital out of remorse for siring a child out of wedlock.

From the St. George’s Episcopal Church website... http://stgeorgesnyc.dioceseny.org/index.html
...here is a photo of the NYC Landmarks Commission designation plaque which outlines the church’s history.
http://stgeorgesnyc.dioceseny.org/photo_albums/architectural/architectural-Images/28.jpg

Also from the St. George’s Episcopal Church website is a contemporary photo taken from nearly the same vantage point --except with a focal length much closer to the apse. It is instructive to compare details; evidently the apse was rebuilt with enlarged single windows in the triforium rather than the rhythmic groups of three it had originally.
http://stgeorgesnyc.dioceseny.org/photo_albums/architectural/architectural-Images/9.jpg
http://www.coachchi.com/ginostuff/nyc-church.jpg

More images of the exterior today can be found here:
http://stgeorgesnyc.dioceseny.org/photo_albums/architectural/architectural.html
http://stgeorgesnyc.dioceseny.org/photo_albums/architectural/architectural-Images/1.jpg

Best Wishes,

jazzage
http://profiles.yahoo.com/jazz_age

[thomasjfletcher]

Jazzage-
Well done sir!!
I had no idea it was that church. And the 1865 fire explains those strange spires. I never even notived that the roof was missing!
I was wrong about the brickwork (it being brownstone) but I was right about the German influence, the architects being Germans heavily influenced by the Rundbogenstil (round-arched style), the pre-cursor to Romanesque.
I went there on the weekend and it really is a beauty.

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/nyc-church.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/nyc-church2.jpg

I was amazed to see that the iron fence opposite is still the same, 140 years later!

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/PICT0182.jpg

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/PICT0179.JPG

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/PICT0180.JPG

Thanks again for your help. I've made a page about it on my website-
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/GRP012.htm
I've quoted you. I hope that's okay.
cheers
Tom