Reply With QuoteUnless others emerge they will own some of the tallest buildings in the city.
Unless others emerge they will own some of the tallest buildings in the city.
Passed the site earlier, demo is well underway.
Building is now practically down.
Soak in the west facade of Woolworth while it lasts.
May 20, 2008, 4:59 pm
In Wreckers’ Wake, a 170-Year-Old Church Re-emerges
By David W. Dunlap
The demolition of 99 Church Street has afforded — for the first time in generations — a generous view of St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street, an often-overlooked landmark that is the birthplace of Catholicism in New York City. (Photo: David W. Dunlap/The New York Times)
As the city ceaselessly rebuilds itself for the future, a veil is sometimes lifted on the past. Small artifacts or brawny foundations may be unearthed. Old billboards will come to back to light as buildings are demolished in front of them. Best of all, an entire vista can open on a long-overlooked landmark for the first time in generations.
And so it is with St. Peter’s Church in Lower Manhattan, the cradle of Catholicism in New York City. The leveling of the former Moody’s headquarters across Barclay Street has created a broad view of the church’s Greek Revival portico, anchored by six colossal Ionic columns, that has not existed for almost 60 years.
“It’s very impressive, with the columns coming up there,” said the Rev. Kevin V. Madigan, the pastor of St. Peter’s. “It has the whole sense of a temple.”
St. Peter’s was meant to be impressive. It was the heart of the first — and for many years only — Roman Catholic parish in the city. The original 18th-century church stood at the same location, Barclay and Church Streets. The present structure was begun in 1836 and dedicated in 1838. In an era of much openly anti-Catholic sentiment, the building’s monumental presence was intended to stake both a spiritual and civic claim.
Thomas O’Connor, a church trustee, said in 1840 that the new building “is not only a great convenience to ourselves, but an ornament to the city, elevating the Catholics, both as men and as Christians, in the esteem and respect of their dissenting brethren.”
Not some relic of antiquity, St. Peter’s has played a role during the darkest hours of recent memory. The Rev. Mychal F. Judge, a Fire Department chaplain, was brought to its altar after he was killed on 9/11.
(The church building itself suffered damage from flying debris.) St. Peter’s is the site of the annual memorial service for victims of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. And a cross-shaped steel beam salvaged from the ruins of the 2001 attack stands outside the church.
Father Madigan said the parish appreciated having the new vista but knew its days were numbered, since an 80-story hotel and apartment tower is planned at the Moody’s site. “We can enjoy it for whatever few months we have,” he said.
The pastor saw another advantage to the broad new view of the building. “You realize it’s a church,” he said. “So often, people walk in front of it and they think of it first, perhaps, as another government building or a bank, because they don’t see the cross on top.”
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ch-re-emerges/
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company
Land purchased in 1785 from Trinity parish.
In the midst of all those Episcopalians.
Did the Pope pay a visit last month when he was at GZ?
Walked by the site today, and heard a lot of construction noise. I think drilling has begun.
still no NB permits that reflect the renderings however. i'm getting nervous.
5/24:
One of the many lots in Lower Manhattan expecting to break ground in the coming months.
kind of funny - makes me want to play a game:
building going up? or coming down?
Originally Posted by BrooklynLove
Perhaps both, with demolition comes high-rise...in this case a skyscraper 88 feet short of a super tall
this fresh foundation permit is for a 57 story 807' building. please calm my nerves AN.
http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/Jo...ssdocnumber=01
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