Calvary Church is an Episcopal church located at 277

Park Avenue South Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Ave ...

on the corner of East 21st Street in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, on the border of the

Flatiron District The Flatiron District is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, named after the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street, Broadway and Fifth Avenue. Generally, the Flatiron District is bounded by 14th Street, Union Square and Gre ...

. It was designed by James Renwick Jr., the architect who designed St. Patrick's Cathedral and Grace Church, and was completed in 1848. The church complex is located within the Gramercy Park Historic District and Extension., pp.84-85 It is one of the two sanctuaries of the Calvary-St. George's Parish.

History

The Calvary Church parish was founded in 1832, and initially used a wooden-frame church on what was then Fourth Avenue – which has since become

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a wide New York City boulevard which carries north and southbound traffic in the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the west and Lexington Av ...

– uptown of its current site."History"
on the Calvary-St. George's Parish website That building was moved to the current location in 1842, and the new Renwick-designed Gothic Revival sanctuary was completed in 1848., pp.36-37 Renwick patterned Calvary after twin-towered French cathedrals, but, unlike Grace Church, Calvary was constructed of brownstone. The church's two wooden spires were removed in September 1860 when they became unstable; the octagonal bases remained but eventually deteriorated and were removed in 1929., p.207 The church complex also includes the nine-story Calvary House, east of the church on

Gramercy Park North Gramercy ParkSometimes misspelled as Grammercy () is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park and the surrounding neighborhood that is referred to also as Gramercy, in the New York City borough of Manhattan in New York, United States. T ...

(East 21st Street), also designed by Renwick, and built in 1867,, p.197 and the "Renwick Gem" Schoolhouse, a small building to the north of the church which was built as a theatre but used for that purpose only for a short time before being utilized for the Calvary Church Sunday school. It has a large interior space, about between the columns, which were designed to hold up the heavy slate roof without the use of exterior

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es. The building, which as of 2011 houses the 4th and 5th grade classes of the

École Internationale de New York École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, compensates for the shadowing of the taller buildings around through Renwick's use of 42

clerestory window In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

The family of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

lived two blocks away from Calvary Church from 1854 to 1872 – Roosevelt was born in their house in 1858, and Calvary was the church the family belonged to. Other congregants included members of the Astor and Vanderbilt families. The church enjoys a close historical association with the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

. In 1896, the rector of Calvary,

Henry Yates Satterlee Henry Yates Satterlee (January 11, 1843 – February 22, 1908) was the first Episcopal Bishop of Washington,Episcopal Bishop of Washington in a ceremony in Calvary Church. Satterlee was instrumental in procuring Mount Saint Alban as the site for the Cathedral, and he laid the Cathedral's main cornerstone in 1907. The parishioners of Calvary donated the church’s baptismal font to the new cathedral, and it is located in the Bethlehem Chapel. Calvary has a strong connection to Alcoholics Anonymous. When the Rev. Dr. Samuel Shoemaker was the minister there, from 1925 to 1952, Calvary House became the American center of the

Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization (first known as ''First Century Christian Fellowship'') founded by the American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. Fur ...

, from which came some of A.A.'s major underlying ideas.

Bill W William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971), also known as Bill Wilson or Bill W., was the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA is an international mutual aid fellowship with about two million members worldwide b ...

ilson, the co-founder of the

twelve-step Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its member ...

group, wrote: "It is through Sam Shoemaker that most of A.A.'s spiritual principles have come. Sam is one of the great channels, one of the prime sources of influences that have gathered themselves into what is now A.A." In 1976, facing financial difficulty, Calvary parish merged with the nearby parishes of St. George's Church and the Church of the Holy Communion."Official History"
on the parish website The Holy Communion buildings were

deconsecrated Deconsecration, also called secularization, is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion. The practice is usually performed on churches or synagogues to ...

and sold to pay down the debts of the new combined parish, eventually becoming the Limelight disco, and the remaining two churches continued to operate as Calvary-St. George's Parish. Calvary House is now rented out as offices.

Notable people

FrederickChildeHassam-CalvaryChurchintheSnow

Notable clergymen, parishioners, and others associated with Calvary Church have included: *

Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James ...

(1829–1886) – The future 21st

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

was married to Ellen Lewis Herndon in Calvary Church on October 25, 1859. *

John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist and a soldier during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the Astor family, becoming the wealthiest member in his generation and ...

(1822–1890) – Astor, a parishioner who married Charlotte Augusta Gibbes in Calvary Church on December 9, 1846, was a financier and philanthropist and the father of

William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor William Waldorf "Willy" Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-British attorney, politician, businessman (hotels and newspapers), and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of ...

. * Alva Belmont (1853–1933) – Alva Erskine Smith married

William Kissam Vanderbilt William Kissam "Willie" Vanderbilt I (December 12, 1849 – July 22, 1920) was an American heir, businessman, philanthropist and horsebreeder. Born into the Vanderbilt family, he managed his family's railroad investments. Early life William Kiss ...

at Calvary Church on April 20, 1875, in what was "reported as 'the grandest wedding witnessed in ew York Cityfor many years.'" Their only daughter was

Consuelo Vanderbilt Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; born Consuelo Vanderbilt; March 2, 1877 – December 6, 1964) was a socialite and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. Her first marriage ...

. After the death of her second husband,

Oliver Belmont Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (November 12, 1858 – June 10, 1908) was an American banker, socialite, and politician who served one term as a United States Representative from New York from 1901 to 1903. Belmont was a member of the banking firm o ...

, Alva Belmont became a major figure in the

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. *

Charles Loring Brace Charles Loring Brace (June 19, 1826 – August 11, 1890) was an American philanthropist who contributed to the field of social reform. He is considered a father of the modern foster care movement and was most renowned for starting the Orphan T ...

(1826–1890) – A parishioner and a prominent

social reform A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary move ...

er, Brace is considered a father of the modern

foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family ...

movement and was most renowned for starting the

Orphan Train The Orphan Train Movement was a supervised welfare program that transported children from crowded Eastern cities of the United States to foster homes located largely in rural areas of the Midwest. The orphan trains operated between 1854 and 1929, ...

movement of the mid-19th century and for founding The Children's Aid Society; he is commemorated in a window in Calvary's chapel. * Benjamin Brewster (1860–1941) – After serving as a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

at Calvary (1887–1891), Brewster was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Western Colorado and Bishop of Maine. *

Arthur Cleveland Coxe Arthur Cleveland Coxe (May 10, 1818 - July 20, 1896) was the second Episcopal bishop of Western New York. He used Cleveland as his given name and is often referred to as A. Cleveland Coxe. Biography He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Hanso ...

(1818–1896) – Coxe, who became rector of Calvary in 1863, was consecrated as the second bishop of Western New York in 1865. * Rebecca Salome Foster (1848–1902) – missionary/prison relief worker known as the "Tombs Angel" because she attended to criminals incarcerated at the New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention (otherwise known as "

The Tombs ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

"). At her February 1902 funeral "All of the court officers of the Courts of General Sessions the Criminal Branch of the Supreme Court and the Court of Special Sessions attended." *

Archibald Gracie IV Archibald Gracie IV (January 15, 1858 – December 4, 1912) was an American writer, soldier, amateur historian, real estate investor, and survivor of the sinking of RMS ''Titanic''. Gracie survived the sinking by climbing aboard an overturned ...

(1858–1912) – American Army Officer and

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

Survivor. Calvary was the scene of both his marriage and his funeral. * Henry Wellington Greatorex (1816–1853) – English-born organist at Calvary whose setting for the "

Gloria Patri The Gloria Patri, also known as the Glory Be to the Father or, colloquially, the Glory Be, is a doxology, a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian liturgies. It is also referred to as the Minor Doxology ''(Doxologia Minor)'' or Lesser ...

" is widely used to this day in

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

denominations for the singing of the

doxology A doxology (Ancient Greek: ''doxologia'', from , '' doxa'' 'glory' and -, -''logia'' 'saying') is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derive ...

. *

Calvin Hampton (George) Calvin Hampton (December 31, 1938 – August 5, 1984) was a leading American organist and sacred music composer. Hampton was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania and raised in Ravenna, Ohio. He graduated from Oberlin Conservatory in 19 ...

(1938–1984) – Calvin Hampton, a leading American

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

and sacred music composer, served as Calvary's organist and choirmaster from 1963 to 1983. *

Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...

(1859–1935) – Calvary Church was depicted by the American Impressionist artist Childe Hassam. Works featuring the church include "Calvary Church in the Snow," painted in 1893. *

Francis Lister Hawks Francis Lister Hawks (June 10, 1798 – September 26, 1866) was an American writer, historian, educator and priest of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Episcopal Church. After practicing law with some distinction (and a brief ...

(1798–1866) – Rector from 1850 until 1862, Dr. Hawks was a scholar, the Historiographer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and editor of ''Appletons' Cyclopædia of Biography'' (1856). *

Philip Kearny Philip Kearny Jr. (; June 1, 1815 – September 1, 1862) was a United States Army officer, notable for his leadership in the Mexican–American War and American Civil War. He was killed in action in the 1862 Battle of Chantilly. Early life and c ...

(1815–1862) – Parishioner who was a

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, notable for his leadership in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

and

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

; killed in action in the

Battle of Chantilly The Battle of Chantilly (or Ox Hill, the Confederate name) took place on September 1, 1862, in Fairfax County, Virginia, as the concluding battle of the Northern Virginia Campaign of the American Civil War. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's corp ...

. * James Kent (1763–1847) – Jurist, legal scholar, chief justice of the New York Supreme Court, and Chancellor of New York who attended Calvary, lastly for his funeral in 1847. * General

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American soldier, Civil War Union general, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey. A graduate of West Point, McCl ...

(1826–1885) – General McClellan, the

during the

who organized the

Army of the Potomac The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confede ...

, was married in Calvary Church on May 22, 1860. * James Renwick Jr. (1818–1895) – Architect of the present building. *

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

(1884–1962) – Like several members of the Roosevelt family, the future First Lady of the United States was a Calvary Church parishioner. Her parents, Elliott Bulloch Roosevelt and

Anna Rebecca Hall Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...

, were married in Calvary Church on December 1, 1883. Eleanor Roosevelt was baptized at Calvary Church in 1885 with her uncle, the future

, standing godfather. *

Henry Yates Satterlee Henry Yates Satterlee (January 11, 1843 – February 22, 1908) was the first Episcopal Bishop of Washington,Episcopal Bishop of Washington. * Samuel Moor Shoemaker (1893–1963) – The Reverend Dr. Samuel Moor Shoemaker, Calvary's rector from 1925 to 1952, is remembered as a co-founder and spiritual leader of Alcoholics Anonymous. * Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1792–1854) – Dr. Wainwright was elected rector in 1850; he was instrumental in the founding of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

and was later a bishop. * Edith Wharton (1862–1937) – The George Frederick Jones family, including young Edith Newbold Jones, lived in the parish and worshipped at Calvary. The rector's daughter, Emelyn Washburn, introduced Edith to

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

, who became her favorite writer. Calvary was used as the setting for Mrs. Wharton’s 1920 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, ''

The Age of Innocence ''The Age of Innocence'' is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her twelfth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine '' Pictorial Review''. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. App ...

'', and Dr. Ashmore, a character in the novel, was modeled after the Rev. Edward Washburn (rector, 1865–81).

References

External links

* {{Gramercy, Kips Bay, Stuyvesant Square Religious organizations established in 1832 Churches completed in 1848 19th-century Episcopal church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in New York City James Renwick Jr. church buildings Episcopal church buildings in New York City Gramercy Park 1832 establishments in New York (state) Flatiron District Churches in Manhattan

History

Notable people

See also

References

External links