Holy Cross Church (New York City)
Encyclopedia
Holy Cross Church is a Roman Catholic church located at 329 West 42nd Street
between Eighth
and Ninth Avenues
in the Hell's Kitchen
neighborhood of Manhattan
, New York City
, near Times Square
and across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
.
The Holy Cross Parish was established in 1852 and a chapel erected, which the congregation quickly outgrew. In 1854, a new building was constructed and dedicated, but lightning struck this second structure in 1867, and the ensuing fire severely damaged it. The current church was constructed to a design by Henry Engelbert
on the site of the damaged building and completed in 1870. It is notable as the oldest building on 42nd Street. The Holy Cross School, located behind the church at 332 West 43rd Street, was built in 1887 to a design by Lawrence J. O'Connor
.
Since 1900, Holy Cross Church has worked with politicians, police and community groups to combat poverty, crime and drugs in the neighborhood. The parish is especially associated with the popular ministry of the Reverend Francis P. Duffy
.
, Romanesque
and Byzantine forms. The main dimensions are 100 feet from front to back and 82 feet from side to side, where the configuration completes the suggestion of a cross. A dome, surmounted by a cross, rises above the intersection of nave
and transept
. From curb level to the top of the cross is a distance of 148 feet.
The nine stained-glass windows in the chancel
were made by Mayer & Company of Munich. Louis Comfort Tiffany
designed the mosaics below the dome and in the sanctuary. Tiffany also designed the stained glass of the clerestory
windows and wheel windows of the transepts.
The red brick and terra-cotta school building facade was designed in the Romanesque Revival style
.
is celebrated in both English- and Spanish-language services. Holy Cross Church operates Crossroads Food Pantry, a food kitchen serving the poor and hungry. It also conducts an evangelical program named LAMP Missionary for the assistance of local residents and passers-by who wish to receive religious counseling.
or from an organ in the gallery. The church houses an Aeolian-Skinner
organ, which is located in the rear gallery in the choir loft. Installed in 1933 and completed in 1941 with the addition of a set of chimes, it replaced an organ built in 1882 by J.H. & C.S. Odell. The earliest organ, with one manual and two octaves, which had been built by Hall and Labagh in 1854, was destroyed in the fire of 1867.
. Duffy served as Chaplain of the "Fighting Irish" 69th New York Regiment during World War I
, and was decorated for his activities. After the war, in 1921, Duffy was appointed Rector
of Holy Cross. Later elevated to Pastor
, Father Duffy served the church until his death in 1932. That year he instituted the Printers' Mass on Sunday mornings at 2:30 A.M. for workers at the New York Times, Herald Tribune
, Daily News
and Daily Mirror
whose shifts required late hours. Father Duffy is commemorated by a bronze statue located on West 46th Street between Seventh Avenue
and Broadway, at Times Square's northern end, which is officially named Duffy Square
.
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
between Eighth
Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)
Eighth Avenue is a north-south avenue on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City, carrying northbound traffic. Eighth Avenue begins in the West Village neighborhood at Abingdon Square and runs north for 44 blocks through Chelsea, the Garment District, Hell's Kitchen's east end, Midtown and the...
and Ninth Avenues
Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)
Ninth Avenue / Columbus Avenue is a southbound thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs downtown along its full length...
in the Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River....
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...
, near Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
and across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City...
.
The Holy Cross Parish was established in 1852 and a chapel erected, which the congregation quickly outgrew. In 1854, a new building was constructed and dedicated, but lightning struck this second structure in 1867, and the ensuing fire severely damaged it. The current church was constructed to a design by Henry Engelbert
Henry Engelbert
Henry Engelbert was an architect best known for buildings in the French Second Empire style, which emphasized elaborate mansard roofs with dormers. New York's Grand Hotel on Broadway is the most noteworthy extant example of Engelbert's work in the French Second Empire Style...
on the site of the damaged building and completed in 1870. It is notable as the oldest building on 42nd Street. The Holy Cross School, located behind the church at 332 West 43rd Street, was built in 1887 to a design by Lawrence J. O'Connor
Lawrence J. O'Connor
Lawrence J. O’Connor, FAIA was an American architect who designed a number of Catholic churches, schools, convents and rectories in New York and New Jersey.-Architectural practice:...
.
Since 1900, Holy Cross Church has worked with politicians, police and community groups to combat poverty, crime and drugs in the neighborhood. The parish is especially associated with the popular ministry of the Reverend Francis P. Duffy
Francis P. Duffy
Francis Patrick Duffy was an American soldier, Roman Catholic priest and chaplain. As the chaplain for the "Fighting 69th", he became the most highly decorated cleric in the history of the U.S. Army. Duffy Square, the northern half of Times Square, is named after him.-Early life and...
.
Architecture
The exterior of Holy Cross Church shows a red brick facade with flanking twin towers in an Italianate Gothic form. Inside, the church reveals an eclectic mixture of Georgian classicalGeorgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
, Romanesque
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
and Byzantine forms. The main dimensions are 100 feet from front to back and 82 feet from side to side, where the configuration completes the suggestion of a cross. A dome, surmounted by a cross, rises above the intersection of nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
. From curb level to the top of the cross is a distance of 148 feet.
The nine stained-glass windows in the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
were made by Mayer & Company of Munich. Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis 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...
designed the mosaics below the dome and in the sanctuary. Tiffany also designed the stained glass of the clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
windows and wheel windows of the transepts.
The red brick and terra-cotta school building facade was designed in the Romanesque Revival style
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
.
Services
MassMass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
is celebrated in both English- and Spanish-language services. Holy Cross Church operates Crossroads Food Pantry, a food kitchen serving the poor and hungry. It also conducts an evangelical program named LAMP Missionary for the assistance of local residents and passers-by who wish to receive religious counseling.
Music
Choral music and congregational singing are present in both Spanish- and English-language services. Music is led from either a grand piano located near the altarAltar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
or from an organ in the gallery. The church houses an Aeolian-Skinner
Aeolian-Skinner
Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. — Æolian-Skinner of Boston, Massachusetts was an important American builder of a large number of notable pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner , Arthur Hudson Marks ,...
organ, which is located in the rear gallery in the choir loft. Installed in 1933 and completed in 1941 with the addition of a set of chimes, it replaced an organ built in 1882 by J.H. & C.S. Odell. The earliest organ, with one manual and two octaves, which had been built by Hall and Labagh in 1854, was destroyed in the fire of 1867.
Father Duffy
Holy Cross Church is sometimes known informally as "Father Duffy's Church", after the Reverend Francis P. DuffyFrancis P. Duffy
Francis Patrick Duffy was an American soldier, Roman Catholic priest and chaplain. As the chaplain for the "Fighting 69th", he became the most highly decorated cleric in the history of the U.S. Army. Duffy Square, the northern half of Times Square, is named after him.-Early life and...
. Duffy served as Chaplain of the "Fighting Irish" 69th New York Regiment during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and was decorated for his activities. After the war, in 1921, Duffy was appointed Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of Holy Cross. Later elevated to Pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
, Father Duffy served the church until his death in 1932. That year he instituted the Printers' Mass on Sunday mornings at 2:30 A.M. for workers at the New York Times, Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
, Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
and Daily Mirror
New York Daily Mirror
The New York Daily Mirror was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the Evening Journal and New York American, later consolidated into the New York Journal...
whose shifts required late hours. Father Duffy is commemorated by a bronze statue located on West 46th Street between Seventh Avenue
Seventh Avenue (Manhattan)
Seventh Avenue, known as Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard north of Central Park, is a thoroughfare on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is southbound below Central Park and a two-way street north of the park....
and Broadway, at Times Square's northern end, which is officially named Duffy Square
Duffy Square
Duffy Square is the northern triangle of Times Square in Manhattan, New York City. It is located between 45th and 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue and is well known for the TKTS reduced-price theater tickets booth located there....
.