St. Francis Xavier Church (Manhattan)

Coordinates: 40°44′18″N 73°59′43″W / 40.738279°N 73.995152°W / 40.738279; -73.995152

St. Francis Xavier Church
General information
Town or city New York City
Country United States of America
Client Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Website
St. Francis Xavier Church, Manhattan (Flatiron)
The original church of St. Francis Xavier Church as it was on the evening of March 8, 1877 when it was the scene of a great panic

St. Francis Xavier Church is a Roman Catholic church in Manhattan at 30–36 West 16th Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.

History

The original church was founded in 1851 by Jesuits from the village of Fordham.[1][2] Its original sanctuary, designed by William Rodrigue, was the scene of a panic on March 8, 1877 when someone shouted "Fire!" in the church during a Mass; seven people died.[3] This church was torn down in 1878.

Built over the next four years, the current church has been in use since 1882. Designed by Irish-born architect Patrick Charles Keely—who over his career designed hundreds of churches[1]—the church has a Neo-baroque exterior[4] and features stained-glass windows in a pre-Raphaelite style.[5]

A campaign for the extensive restoration and preservation of the church began in 2001 and was completed in 2010 under the direction of EverGreene Architectural Arts and Thomas A. Fenniman, architect.[3][6][7]

See also

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 Gray, Christopher. "Streetscapes: West 16th Street; A Side-Street Surprise: A Monumental Church" New York Times (March 27, 2005)
  2. ↑ Remigius Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg Together with some Supplementary Articles on Religious Communities of Women.. (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p.326.
  3. 1 2 Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7. , p.204
  4. ↑ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000), AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.), New York: Three Rivers Press, ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5 , p. 192
  5. ↑ "St. Francis Xavier Church" on NYC Architecture.com
  6. ↑ Saint Francis Xavier: Restoration history Archived 2011-04-10 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ Bahamón, Alejandro and Losantos, Àgata. New York: A Historical Atlas of Architecture (New York: Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, Inc., 2007), p.99.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.