Walking Tour: The gothic Grace Church

     Recently, Lewis and I celebrated our fifth-year anniversary in a neighborhood named Greenwich Village, and we saw Grace Church again.  We decided to explore it during our next mutual Day Off.  I'll tell you about that marvelous structure!  Rising 230-feet high, the spire of this Episcopal church claims part of the city's skyline.  It's a national landmark.  Built in 1846, this pre-Civil War masterpiece has some hidden beauty... if you look close. 

Having read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, I recall that church entrances were secretly designed to resemble vaginas, in celebration of the ancient worship of women (that the Roman Catholic Church expunged, to claim superiority).

These "doorways to a world" are pretty, too.

That doorknob near a statue reminds me of "Harry Potter" scenes, where statuary or artwork guard the entranceways!

*If you want to see when Lewis and I saw Da Vinci's churchly and secular artwork in Italy, please click this link:

https://halfwindsorfullthrottle.blogspot.com/2022/03/our-trip-to-italy-part-1-of-7-milan.html

     Designed by James Renwick, Jr., Grace Church was his VERY FIRST commissioned job!  He began working on it at the age of 25!  Born to a wealthy Manhattan family, he was NEVER formally educated to be an architect!  He never went to school for it.  Amazingly, he merely learned from his dad.  He did enroll at NYC's "Ivy League" Columbia University at age 12 to study Engineering for 3 years.  To learn the trade (a few years later in 1842), he was Supervisor for the Croton Reservoir.  Below are pictures of it (looking like a prison from the outside, even though pedestrians were allowed to stroll along the promenade atop the walls).  

It was demolished in the 1890s.  In 1907, it was replaced by the gorgeous NY Public Library on Fifth Avenue (after the Library of Congress, it's the 2nd-largest library in America).

     Renwick's rich life allowed him to travel through Europe, and he copied what he liked into his plans for buildings.  His family's political clout got him the job, against opposition.

Before the Gothic Revival started in America, Renwick chose Gothic styles because no other structure in Manhattan had been done in that style.

The wood carving, stained glass, plasterwork, and masonry are utterly amazing.  Such lost arts!

Above, a rear pipe organ augments the double-sided one near the altar/chancel.

Most of the windows were designed by Henry Holiday (what an appropriate name for a guy who created art in a place that celebrates so many holidays).

Even the whimsically curved stairs that lead to the pulpit are handsome done.

Sort of how the early church treated congregations as "cogs in a wheel", this church is all about Compartmentalization (see above and below).

     In reality, turn-of-the-century churches created "box seats/pews" for individual households.  I'm sure the richest sat in the front, but it was designed to make each household pay for the upkeep of their part of the nave.

Below, Lewis sits in a box "for one"!

     Aside from admiring Lewis' ring, notice the intricate woodwork and carpentry skills that adorn the pews.

Absolutely every detail was lavished with thoughtful care.  It certainly breaks the monotony of modern architecture to see tiled mosaic floors and octagon-shaped corner pieces.  Below, the pierce-work of the Baptismal Font cover was all done by hand (since it was before the Industrial Revolution).  

Above, the Edward Potter chantry was added in 1879.

For a whole generation of the populous, it was the most fashionable church in Manhattan.  

(St. Thomas Fifth Avenue--where Lewis and I attend services--was erected in 1914 and stole that title).

The church was included in the funeral "tour" of President Abraham Lincoln's corpse (above).

It withstood the progression of horses to streetcars to automobiles.

It might not be the tallest structure in the neighborhood...

but it's still impressive.  
     Below, the Parish House (Rectory) is practically a mansion.  I'm sure the clergy and staff who reside there are comfy, in "Downton Abbey"-like surroundings.

It's one of the few city churches that has garden / green spaces on either side.  Perfect for wedding pictures!  (and Easter Egg hunts for urban kids).

Famous for its Choir and Men & Boys, it is an oasis in the city

     The church is also funded by its School, which began in the 1930s.  The church built the above buildings (all of them) at the turn-of-the-century, and they continue to funnel monies that augment the collected offerings and donations.  
     Located at Cooper Square, its high school opened in 2011.   Prior to that, the church funded education/English lessons to the city's immigrants.       
     Grace also provides a community outreach program, spiritual education classes for adults, and youth services.  A shelter for homeless men is located in one of the church's Fourth Avenue buildings.  In 1914, it built a hospital nearby, but the Roman Catholic Archdiocese bought it to house their clergy instead.
     Two hundred years after their first congregation assembled (in a building before this one), the parish of Grace Church is still carrying on.
     As for Renwick, he went on to design what is considered his finest achievement--his best-known building: St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.  He was chosen as architect for the cathedral in 1853, construction began in 1858, and the cathedral opened in 1879.  The Catholic cathedral is a mixture of German, French, and English Gothic influences.