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Church of the Ascension (New York)
Encyclopedia
The Church of the Ascension is an Episcopal church in the Diocese of New York
, located at 36-38 Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street in the Greenwich Village
neighborhood of Manhattan
New York City
. From an austere beginning as a bastion of the evangelical movement it has become internationally known for its art, music, and liturgy. From a church with rented pews and a mostly affluent, homogeneous congregation, it has evolved into a parish of diverse people whose economic circumstances vary widely.
The church, which was built in 1840-41 and was designed by Richard Upjohn
in the Gothic Revival style
, with an interior remodeled by Stanford White
in 1885-89, was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1987. Its parish house, at 12 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), was built in 1844 and was altered to its current state in 1888-89 by McKim, Mead and White in a Northern Renaissance-inspired style. Both buildings are part of the Greenwich Village Historic District, designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
in 1969.
Ascension was founded in 1827, when New York was a city of only about two hundred thousand people. The Reverend Manton Eastburn, assistant at Christ Church, Anthony and Worth Streets, was a champion of the evangelical movement
. A group of like-minded people went to the twenty-six-year-old, English-born clergyman and asked him to form a parish "to proclaim...living, personal evangelical faith." He accepted their invitation, and a certificate of incorporation was signed on October 1, 1827.
The first church, a small white Greek Revival building on Canal Street
, was consecrated in 1829 and, after a decade of growth for the parish, was destroyed by fire. Little time was spent in lamentation. Within a month, the vestry selected the present site on Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street for a new church, to be designed by Richard Upjohn
. The new Gothic Revival building was consecrated on November 5, 1841, the first church on Fifth Avenue. The site was considerably north of the city's population center, when Fifth Avenue was only an unpaved trackway, terminating in a board fence at Twenty-third Street.
After serving for fifteen years as rector, Manton Eastburn
was chosen to become the Assistant Bishop of Massachusetts. (The Church of the Ascension has had only 11 rectors in its 170 years, four of whom became bishops in the Episcopal Church.)
From its earliest days, the church has been the setting for many notable events, including the marriage of President John Tyler
and Julia Gardiner
in 1844. Many such prominent New Yorkers as August Belmont
, William B. Astor
, Frederick de Peyster and William C. Rhinelander have been parishioners.
Demonstrations of social concern appeared early in the church. Between 1843 and 1859 the sum of $225,000 was donated for purposes outside the parish, when the regular budget in any given year was no more than $10,000, the bulk of which came from pew rents. During this period, for example, Aspinwall Hall was given to the Virginia Theological Seminary
; over $3,000 was contributed to relieve famine distress in Ireland
; funds to build Ascension Hall were given to Kenyon College
in Ohio
; a fund was raised to help struggling churches in places as far afield as Liberia
and Frankfort, Kentucky
; and in New York, the Church of the Ascension was instrumental in establishing and maintaining the Five Points Day School
, which sought to feed, clothe, and educate the children of one of the city's worst neighborhoods of crime, poverty, and degradation.
In 1888 the women of the parish set up the St. Agnes Nursery, the first day nursery in New York City. Here the babies and young children of working mothers found shelter and protection. Like many vital and financially viable parishes, Ascension established several missions and chapels in New York, maintaining them for as long as they filled a need.
The fourth rector, the Reverend E. Winchester Donald, was a friend of many of the artists dwelling in the church's Greenwich Village neighborhood. He was convinced that beauty, which elevates the human spirit, is an appropriate setting for worship. A generous gift from the Misses Julia and Serena Rhinelander made it possible for John LaFarge
, Stanford White
, Louis St. Gaudens
and David Maitland Armstrong to transform the chancel from a bleak, bare space into a composition of the highest order, surmounted by LaFarge's great mural, The Ascension of Our Lord.
When the Reverend Percy Stickney Grant was called as rector in 1893, he said he would accept only on the condition that Ascension be made a parish of free pews. This was a radical step for an Episcopal parish to take at that time, giving up the fancied security of pew rents and depending on voluntary giving, but the vestry acceded to his demand.
An equally radical departure was suggested by the sixth rector, the Reverend Donald B. Aldrich, when he proposed to the vestry that the church be kept open at all hours of the day and night. On November 9, 1929, barely a week after the stock market crash
, the central doors were opened, not to be locked again until October 1966, when a more lawless social climate made limited hours necessary. (The church is at present open weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. for prayer and meditation and at 6 p.m. most weekdays for Eucharist, as well as open for its other services.) Ascension was the first church in New York City to keep its doors open at all hours, and during the Depression
homeless men slept in the pews.
The tenth rector, the Reverend Donald R. Goodness, retired in 1997, after serving in the parish for twenty-five years. During the quarter century he spent with Ascension, Mr. Goodness embraced a number of changes, both at Ascension and in the Episcopal Church at large. It was during Donald Goodness's rectorship that the celebration of the Holy Communion became the main service every other Sunday instead of once a month. His tenure saw the introduction of eucharistic vestments and a more ceremonial liturgical approach in general. When the 1979 prayer book was introduced, he embraced its multiple rites and the church continues today to celebrate the Eucharist using all six forms found in the Book of Common Prayer
, although it no longer worships in the traditional manner of Morning Prayer.
The eleventh rector of Ascension, the Reverend Andrew W. Foster III, came to serve the parish in 1999, after serving as rector of St. Paul's Church on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
, and earlier as the Episcopal chaplain at the University of Michigan
and then as chaplain at Kenyon College. Since his investiture as rector, the parish has seen some updates to its liturgy in keeping with common practice throughout the Episcopal Church - underscoring the "striving for mediocrity" reflected in the liturgical practices of many churches; it continues to host a regular schedule of services of prayer and music, including one especially for college students each Sunday during the school year at 6pm.
The style "Rt. Rev." connotes those former rectors who later became bishops in the Episcopal Church
, who was working on plans for Trinity Church, Wall Street
, at the same time. The cornerstone was laid in 1840 and the church was consecrated on November 5, 1841.
In 1957, the Municipal Art Society
and the New York chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians
named the Church of the Ascension as nationally important and worthy of preservation because of its architectural value, sculpture, stained glass, and painting. In 1987, the church was declared a National Historic Landmark
.
under the general direction of Stanford White
.
The sculptured angels over the main altar are the work of Louis St. Gaudens
, while the main altar and the two angels in the mosaic were done by David Maitland Armstrong. The painting of "The Ascension of Our Lord" above the main altar is the work of John LaFarge. It was executed on canvas in place and completed in 1888. It stands in the first rank of modern mural decoration in America. John LaFarge
also designed four of the stained glass windows (described below). The freestanding altar, given in 1983 by Esther D. Hamilton in memory of Catherine B. Fair, was designed by a Polish-born architect, Andrej Ryczek, and made by Lewis Epstein and Alex Tweedie woodworkers from Boston.
The Holtkamp
organ
was installed in 1967. It has 4,500 pipes, 67 stops, and 81 ranks distributed among the pedal, great, swell, positiv, and solo divisions. Eclectic in conception, the organ is adapted to the needs of organ literature of all periods. Its tonal quality is greatly enhanced by the excellent acoustics of the church building.
The choir stalls, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, were made by the J&R Lamb Studios
. They were given in 1885 by Euphrasia Leland and Emma Leland Wesson in memory of their sisters, Louisa Leland Limbert and Adelaide Leland.
The baptismal font, by Louis St. Gaudens
, given by the St. Agnes Society in 1891, was cleaned and repaired in 1983, when a new brass cover was designed and made by Rambusch Studios.
The eagle lectern is a memorial to the Rt. Rev. Gregory Thurston Bedell, second rector of the parish, and was given by his former parishioners in 1898.
The three panels on the front of the side altar were designed by Helen Maitland Armstrong in 1930. The wood used was taken from the sedilia formerly placed there in memory of Francis and Euphrasia Aguilar Leland.
The cross above the side altar was brought from Italy and is a memorial of Earl Hulbert Aldrich, given by the Rt. Rev. Donald Bradshaw Aldrich, D.D., sixth rector of the parish.
The pulpit, given by Meta Nielson in memory of the Rt. Rev. Manton Eastburn, first rector of the parish, was designed by Charles F. McKim
and carved by Joseph Cabus in 1884.
Two paintings by Edwin H. Blashfield
hang in the rear of the church. On the north aisle is "The Angel with the Flaming Sword," which was painted in Paris in 1890-1891 and shown at the Salon of 1891, at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. It was given by the artist and his wife, Grace Hall Blashfield, in 1935, in memory of the Rev. E. Winchester Donald and the Rev. Percy Stickney Grant. On the south aisle is "In the House of the Carpenter." It was lent in 1939 and became the church's property at the death of the artist's widow in 1947.
South side, from the Fifth Avenue end
.
in Loughborough
, England
, and presented to the church as a memorial in 1933, range from middle C to the second E above the diatonic scale of C, also the raised fourth and flat seventh (F# and B-flat). The memorial tablet in the vestibule for the tower bells was designed by Ruth Brooks.
Episcopal Diocese of New York
The Episcopal Diocese of New York is a diocese of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, encompassing the boroughs of Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island in New York City, and the New York state counties of Westchester, Rockland, Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Sullivan, and...
, located at 36-38 Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street in the Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
neighborhood of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. From an austere beginning as a bastion of the evangelical movement it has become internationally known for its art, music, and liturgy. From a church with rented pews and a mostly affluent, homogeneous congregation, it has evolved into a parish of diverse people whose economic circumstances vary widely.
The church, which was built in 1840-41 and was designed by Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
in the Gothic Revival style
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, with an interior remodeled by Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
in 1885-89, was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 1987. Its parish house, at 12 West 11th Street between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), was built in 1844 and was altered to its current state in 1888-89 by McKim, Mead and White in a Northern Renaissance-inspired style. Both buildings are part of the Greenwich Village Historic District, designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The Commission was created in April 1965 by Mayor Robert F. Wagner following the destruction of Pennsylvania Station the previous year to make way for...
in 1969.
Parish history
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
. A group of like-minded people went to the twenty-six-year-old, English-born clergyman and asked him to form a parish "to proclaim...living, personal evangelical faith." He accepted their invitation, and a certificate of incorporation was signed on October 1, 1827.
The first church, a small white Greek Revival building on Canal Street
Canal Street (Manhattan)
Canal Street is a major street in New York City, crossing lower Manhattan to join New Jersey in the west to Brooklyn in the east . It forms the main spine of Chinatown, and separates it from Little Italy...
, was consecrated in 1829 and, after a decade of growth for the parish, was destroyed by fire. Little time was spent in lamentation. Within a month, the vestry selected the present site on Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street for a new church, to be designed by Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
. The new Gothic Revival building was consecrated on November 5, 1841, the first church on Fifth Avenue. The site was considerably north of the city's population center, when Fifth Avenue was only an unpaved trackway, terminating in a board fence at Twenty-third Street.
After serving for fifteen years as rector, Manton Eastburn
Manton Eastburn
Manton Eastburn was an Episcopal bishop. After graduation from Columbia University, he studied at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States before ordination as deacon and priest by Bishop John Henry Hobart of the Diocese of New York...
was chosen to become the Assistant Bishop of Massachusetts. (The Church of the Ascension has had only 11 rectors in its 170 years, four of whom became bishops in the Episcopal Church.)
From its earliest days, the church has been the setting for many notable events, including the marriage of President John Tyler
John Tyler
John Tyler was the tenth President of the United States . A native of Virginia, Tyler served as a state legislator, governor, U.S. representative, and U.S. senator before being elected Vice President . He was the first to succeed to the office of President following the death of a predecessor...
and Julia Gardiner
Julia Gardiner Tyler
Julia Gardiner Tyler , second wife of John Tyler, was First Lady of the United States from June 26, 1844, to March 4, 1845.-Early life:...
in 1844. Many such prominent New Yorkers as August Belmont
August Belmont
August Belmont, Sr. was an American politician.-Early life:August Belmont was born in Alzey, Hesse, on December 8, 1813--some sources say 1816--to Simon and Frederika Elsass Schönberg, a Jewish family. After his mother's death, when he was seven, he lived with his uncle and grandmother in Frankfurt...
, William B. Astor
William Backhouse Astor, Jr.
William Backhouse Astor, Jr. was a businessman and a member of the prominent Astor family.He was the ancestor of the U.S. branch of the Astor family, which came to an end in the male line at the end of the 20th century....
, Frederick de Peyster and William C. Rhinelander have been parishioners.
Demonstrations of social concern appeared early in the church. Between 1843 and 1859 the sum of $225,000 was donated for purposes outside the parish, when the regular budget in any given year was no more than $10,000, the bulk of which came from pew rents. During this period, for example, Aspinwall Hall was given to the Virginia Theological Seminary
Virginia Theological Seminary
Virginia Theological Seminary , formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, is the largest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States. Founded in 1818, VTS is situated on an campus in Alexandria, Virginia, just a few miles from downtown Washington, DC. VTS...
; over $3,000 was contributed to relieve famine distress in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
; funds to build Ascension Hall were given to Kenyon College
Kenyon College
Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, founded in 1824 by Bishop Philander Chase of The Episcopal Church, in parallel with the Bexley Hall seminary. It is the oldest private college in Ohio...
in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
; a fund was raised to help struggling churches in places as far afield as Liberia
Liberia
Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Sierra Leone on the west, Guinea on the north and Côte d'Ivoire on the east. Liberia's coastline is composed of mostly mangrove forests while the more sparsely populated inland consists of forests that open...
and Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort, Kentucky
Frankfort is a city in Kentucky that serves as the state capital and the county seat of Franklin County. The population was 27,741 at the 2000 census; by population it is the 5th smallest state capital in the United States...
; and in New York, the Church of the Ascension was instrumental in establishing and maintaining the Five Points Day School
Five Points, Manhattan
Five Points was a neighborhood in central lower Manhattan in New York City. The neighborhood was generally defined as being bound by Centre Street in the west, The Bowery in the east, Canal Street in the north and Park Row in the south...
, which sought to feed, clothe, and educate the children of one of the city's worst neighborhoods of crime, poverty, and degradation.
In 1888 the women of the parish set up the St. Agnes Nursery, the first day nursery in New York City. Here the babies and young children of working mothers found shelter and protection. Like many vital and financially viable parishes, Ascension established several missions and chapels in New York, maintaining them for as long as they filled a need.
The fourth rector, the Reverend E. Winchester Donald, was a friend of many of the artists dwelling in the church's Greenwich Village neighborhood. He was convinced that beauty, which elevates the human spirit, is an appropriate setting for worship. A generous gift from the Misses Julia and Serena Rhinelander made it possible for John LaFarge
John LaFarge
John La Farge was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer.-Biography:...
, Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
, Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens , was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation....
and David Maitland Armstrong to transform the chancel from a bleak, bare space into a composition of the highest order, surmounted by LaFarge's great mural, The Ascension of Our Lord.
When the Reverend Percy Stickney Grant was called as rector in 1893, he said he would accept only on the condition that Ascension be made a parish of free pews. This was a radical step for an Episcopal parish to take at that time, giving up the fancied security of pew rents and depending on voluntary giving, but the vestry acceded to his demand.
An equally radical departure was suggested by the sixth rector, the Reverend Donald B. Aldrich, when he proposed to the vestry that the church be kept open at all hours of the day and night. On November 9, 1929, barely a week after the stock market crash
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
, the central doors were opened, not to be locked again until October 1966, when a more lawless social climate made limited hours necessary. (The church is at present open weekdays from noon to 1 p.m. for prayer and meditation and at 6 p.m. most weekdays for Eucharist, as well as open for its other services.) Ascension was the first church in New York City to keep its doors open at all hours, and during the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
homeless men slept in the pews.
The tenth rector, the Reverend Donald R. Goodness, retired in 1997, after serving in the parish for twenty-five years. During the quarter century he spent with Ascension, Mr. Goodness embraced a number of changes, both at Ascension and in the Episcopal Church at large. It was during Donald Goodness's rectorship that the celebration of the Holy Communion became the main service every other Sunday instead of once a month. His tenure saw the introduction of eucharistic vestments and a more ceremonial liturgical approach in general. When the 1979 prayer book was introduced, he embraced its multiple rites and the church continues today to celebrate the Eucharist using all six forms found in the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
, although it no longer worships in the traditional manner of Morning Prayer.
The eleventh rector of Ascension, the Reverend Andrew W. Foster III, came to serve the parish in 1999, after serving as rector of St. Paul's Church on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
Nantucket, Massachusetts
Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket...
, and earlier as the Episcopal chaplain at the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
and then as chaplain at Kenyon College. Since his investiture as rector, the parish has seen some updates to its liturgy in keeping with common practice throughout the Episcopal Church - underscoring the "striving for mediocrity" reflected in the liturgical practices of many churches; it continues to host a regular schedule of services of prayer and music, including one especially for college students each Sunday during the school year at 6pm.
Rectors of the parish
- 1827-1842 The Rt. Rev. Manton EastburnManton EastburnManton Eastburn was an Episcopal bishop. After graduation from Columbia University, he studied at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in the United States before ordination as deacon and priest by Bishop John Henry Hobart of the Diocese of New York...
- 1843-1859 The Rt. Rev. Gregory Thurston Bedell
- 1859-1882 The Rev. Dr. John Cotton Smith
- 1882-1892 The Rev. Dr. E. Winchester Donald
- 1893-1924 The Rev. Dr. Percy Stickney Grant
- 1925-1945 The Rt. Rev. Donald Bradshaw Aldrich
- 1945-1953 The Rev. Dr. Rosco Thornton Foust
- 1955-1964 The Rev. Dr. James William Kennedy
- 1964-1971 The Rt. Rev. John McGill Krumm
- 1972-1997 The Rev. Donald R. Goodness, Jr.
- 1999 - The Rev. Andrew W. Foster III
The style "Rt. Rev." connotes those former rectors who later became bishops in the Episcopal Church
Artistic heritage
The present edifice at Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street is one of the earliest churches designed by the English-born architect Richard UpjohnRichard Upjohn
Richard Upjohn was an English-born architect who emigrated to the United States and became most famous for his Gothic Revival churches. He was partially responsible for launching the movement to such popularity in the United States. Upjohn also did extensive work in and helped to popularize the...
, who was working on plans for Trinity Church, Wall Street
Trinity Church, New York
Trinity Church at 79 Broadway, Lower Manhattan, is a historic, active parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York...
, at the same time. The cornerstone was laid in 1840 and the church was consecrated on November 5, 1841.
In 1957, the Municipal Art Society
Municipal Art Society
The Municipal Art Society of New York, founded in 1893, is a non-profit membership organization that fights for intelligent urban planning, design and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy in New York City....
and the New York chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians
Society of Architectural Historians
The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide....
named the Church of the Ascension as nationally important and worthy of preservation because of its architectural value, sculpture, stained glass, and painting. In 1987, the church was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
.
Chancel and nave
During the years 1885-1889, the interior of the church was remodeled. Galleries on the north and south were removed. The chancel was decorated as seen today, a memorial to William C. Rhinelander and Mary Rogers, his wife, given by their daughters. The work was done by McKim, Mead, and WhiteMcKim, Mead, and White
McKim, Mead & White was a prominent American architectural firm at the turn of the twentieth century and in the history of American architecture. The firm's founding partners were Charles Follen McKim , William Rutherford Mead and Stanford White...
under the general direction of Stanford White
Stanford White
Stanford White was an American architect and partner in the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White, the frontrunner among Beaux-Arts firms. He designed a long series of houses for the rich and the very rich, and various public, institutional, and religious buildings, some of which can be found...
.
The sculptured angels over the main altar are the work of Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens , was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation....
, while the main altar and the two angels in the mosaic were done by David Maitland Armstrong. The painting of "The Ascension of Our Lord" above the main altar is the work of John LaFarge. It was executed on canvas in place and completed in 1888. It stands in the first rank of modern mural decoration in America. John LaFarge
John LaFarge
John La Farge was an American painter, muralist, stained glass window maker, decorator, and writer.-Biography:...
also designed four of the stained glass windows (described below). The freestanding altar, given in 1983 by Esther D. Hamilton in memory of Catherine B. Fair, was designed by a Polish-born architect, Andrej Ryczek, and made by Lewis Epstein and Alex Tweedie woodworkers from Boston.
Holtkamp Organ Company
The Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio is one of America's oldest builders of pipe organs. Founded in 1855 by G.F. Votteler, the company was passed on to the Holtkamps in 1931...
organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
was installed in 1967. It has 4,500 pipes, 67 stops, and 81 ranks distributed among the pedal, great, swell, positiv, and solo divisions. Eclectic in conception, the organ is adapted to the needs of organ literature of all periods. Its tonal quality is greatly enhanced by the excellent acoustics of the church building.
The choir stalls, designed by McKim, Mead, and White, were made by the J&R Lamb Studios
J&R Lamb Studios
J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany..- History :...
. They were given in 1885 by Euphrasia Leland and Emma Leland Wesson in memory of their sisters, Louisa Leland Limbert and Adelaide Leland.
The baptismal font, by Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens
Louis St. Gaudens , was a significant American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation....
, given by the St. Agnes Society in 1891, was cleaned and repaired in 1983, when a new brass cover was designed and made by Rambusch Studios.
The eagle lectern is a memorial to the Rt. Rev. Gregory Thurston Bedell, second rector of the parish, and was given by his former parishioners in 1898.
The three panels on the front of the side altar were designed by Helen Maitland Armstrong in 1930. The wood used was taken from the sedilia formerly placed there in memory of Francis and Euphrasia Aguilar Leland.
The cross above the side altar was brought from Italy and is a memorial of Earl Hulbert Aldrich, given by the Rt. Rev. Donald Bradshaw Aldrich, D.D., sixth rector of the parish.
The pulpit, given by Meta Nielson in memory of the Rt. Rev. Manton Eastburn, first rector of the parish, was designed by Charles F. McKim
Charles Follen McKim
Charles Follen McKim FAIA was an American Beaux-Arts architect of the late 19th century. Along with Stanford White, he provided the architectural expertise as a member of the partnership McKim, Mead, and White....
and carved by Joseph Cabus in 1884.
Two paintings by Edwin H. Blashfield
Edwin Blashfield
Edwin Howland Blashfield , an American artist, was born in New York City.He was a pupil of Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat in Paris beginning in 1867, and became a member of the National Academy of Design in New York...
hang in the rear of the church. On the north aisle is "The Angel with the Flaming Sword," which was painted in Paris in 1890-1891 and shown at the Salon of 1891, at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, and the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901. It was given by the artist and his wife, Grace Hall Blashfield, in 1935, in memory of the Rev. E. Winchester Donald and the Rev. Percy Stickney Grant. On the south aisle is "In the House of the Carpenter." It was lent in 1939 and became the church's property at the death of the artist's widow in 1947.
Stained glass windows
North side, from the Fifth Avenue end- 1. The Weir memorial, J. Alden Weir (1852–1919), artist. Subject: "An Incident in the Flight into Egypt."
- 2. The Reynolds Memorial, Joseph Lauber (1855–1948), artist. Subject: "Christ's Admonition to Thomas."
- 3. The Rhinelander Memorial, Frederick Wilson (1858–1938), artist. Subject: "The Women at the Sepulchre." Design executed by Tiffany StudiosLouis Comfort TiffanyLouis Comfort Tiffany was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art Nouveau and Aesthetic movements...
- 4. The Grosvenor Memorial, Frederic Crowninshield (1845–1918), artist. Subject: "Angels at the Sepulchre."
- 5. The Davies Coxe Memorial, John LaFarge, artist. Subject: "The Good Shepherd."
South side, from the Fifth Avenue end
- 1. The Southworth Memorial, John LaFarge, artist. Subject: "Mary Magdelene, Joanna, and Mary the Mother of James at the Sepulchre."
- 2. The Tailer Memorial, D. Maitland Armstrong (1836–1918), artist. Subject: "The Child Jesus Found by His Mother in the Temple."
- 3. The Leland Memorial, John LaFarge, artist. Subject: "The Presentation of Christ in the Temple."
- 4. The Neilson Memorial, D. Maitland Armstrong, artist. Subject: "The Annunciation."
- 5. The John Cotton Smith Memorial, John LaFarge, artist. Subject: "Nicodemus Coming to Jesus by Night."
Clerestory windows
- 1. The Longstreth Memorial (north and south above the chancel), Henry Lee Willet (1899–1983), artist. Design executed by Willet Stained Glass Studios.
- 2. The Lothrop Memorial (above the third bay arch on the south side), John Humphreys Johnston (1857–1941), artist. Subject: "The Vision of St. John."
- 3. The Muhlenfels Memorial (above the fourth bay arch on the south side), Henry Lee Willet, artist. Design executed by Willet Stained Glass Studios.
- 4. The Goodness Memorial (above the fifth bay arch on the south side), Nancy Howell (born 1955), artist. Subject: "Let the Children Come to Me." Design executed by the Gil Studio.
- 5. The Loomis Memorial (above the third bay arch on the north side), John Humphreys Johnston, artist. Subject: "The Two Marys at the Sepulchre."
- 6. The Sinally Memorial (above the fourth bay arch on the north side), Colum Sharkey (born 1922), artist. Subject: "Consider the Lilies of the Field." Designed and executed by Willet Stained Glass Studios.
Front vestibule windows
- 1. The Jackson Memorial (south wall), D. Maitland Armstrong, artist.
- 2. The Catherine B. Fair Memorial (north wall). Design executed by Rohlf Studios.
Tower windows
Five windows consisting of 123 illustrations depicting incidents from the story of Creation to the story of Judas Maccabeus. Designed and executed by G. Owen BonawitG. Owen Bonawit
G. Owen Bonawit was an artist whose studio created thousands of pieces of stained glass for Yale, Duke, and Northwestern universities; Connecticut College; and at private homes. There are, by one count, 887 pieces in Yale's Sterling Memorial Library. Bonawit worked often and closely with the...
.
Tower bells
The twelve bells, made by John Taylor & Co.John Taylor Bellfounders
John Taylor & Co, formerly trading as Taylors, Eayre & Smith Ltd and John Taylor Bellfounders Ltd, and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry, located in Loughborough in the United Kingdom.The company manufactures bells for use in...
in Loughborough
Loughborough
Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and presented to the church as a memorial in 1933, range from middle C to the second E above the diatonic scale of C, also the raised fourth and flat seventh (F# and B-flat). The memorial tablet in the vestibule for the tower bells was designed by Ruth Brooks.