The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe ( es, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), is a former

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

under the authority of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the borough ...

, located at 229 West 14th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, in the

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

section 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 List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. With the merger in 2003 of the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe with the Parish of St. Bernard, farther west at 328 West 14th Street, the function was transferred to the nearby St. Bernard Church and the church was converted to other uses.

History

The parish was established in 1902 by the

Augustinians of the Assumption The Assumptionists, officialy named the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption ( la, Congregatio Augustinianorum ab Assumptione) abbreviated AA,is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men (priests and b ...

as the first Spanish-speaking Catholic parish in New York City, serving working-class

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance peoples, Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of National and regional identity in Spain, national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex Hist ...

. At the time, that area of 14th street was considered “

Little Spain Spaniards in New York City originally settled in Little Spain,( es, Pequeña España) a Spanish-American neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, during the 20th century. History "Little Spain" was situated on 14th Street, betwe ...

”.Lafort, Remigius Lafort (1914)
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. p.357 The parish was merged in 2003 with the neighboring St. Bernard Parish to create the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe & St. Bernard.

Building

The church building is a former mid-19th-century brownstone

rowhouse In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

. Its conversion to a church created a double-story sanctuary. The church also included a "side chapel, tiny balcony, and clerestory." The monumental facade completed in the Spanish Baroque style or "classically proportioned Spanish Revival façade" was built in 1921 to the designs of

Gustave Steinback Gustave E. Steinback (1878–1959) was an American architect practicing in New York City in the early and mid twentieth century. He was particularly known as a designer of Roman Catholic schools and churches. His offices were located at 157 West ...

.Our Lady Guadalupe Organs
The "transformation which makes Guadalupe extremely rare, if not unique, in the city spanned two decades and involved several notable architects...." The ''

AIA Guide to NYC The ''AIA Guide to New York City'' by Norval White, Elliot Willensky, and Fran Leadon is an extensive catalogue with descriptions, critique and photographs of significant and noteworthy architecture throughout the five boroughs of New York City. ...

'' (Fifth Edition, 2010) called it "an extraordinary brownstone conversion.... Its Iberian ancestry is expressed both in the language of its services and in its Spanish Colonial facade." p.209 The church remained popular with the various Hispanic communities of New York, serving

, Spanish-Americans,

Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans ( es, Puertorriqueños; or boricuas) are the people of Puerto Rico, the inhabitants, and citizens of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and their descendants. Overview The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred t ...

Mexicans Mexicans ( es, mexicanos) are the citizens of the United Mexican States. The most spoken language by Mexicans is Spanish language, Spanish, but some may also speak languages from 68 different Languages of Mexico, Indigenous linguistic groups ...

and other

Latin Americans Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...

. The rapid expansion of the Mexican population in the late 20th century, however, overwhelmed the small church, necessitating the congregation's transfer to nearby St. Bernard Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Manhattan, New York City Closed churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Closed churches in New York City Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan Greenwich Village Spanish-American culture in New York City Roman Catholic churches completed in 1902 Christian organizations established in 1902 Gustave E. Steinback church buildings Baroque Revival architecture in New York City Little Spain Houses completed in 1850 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States