The Church of St. Ambrose is a former

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

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 539 West 54th Street in

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 ...

. The parish was established in 1897.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.312. The church was designed by

John Vredenburgh Van Pelt John Vredenburgh Van Pelt, F.A.I.A., A.D.G.F., (February 24, 1874 – 1962) was an architectural historian, author, and American architect active in early to mid-twentieth-century New York City. He was a partner in Green & Van Pelt (1906), in T ...

in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

., p.189 In 1938, the congregation disbanded. The building became the Sisters of Mary Immaculate's Centro Maria, a woman's residence. Founded in 1920, Centro Maria provides care and a temporary, transitional home for women from different countries that come to work or to study in New York. It also provides information, referrals and assistance in job placement for the young women who stay there and celebrates Mass in its chapel.

References

Notes Christian organizations established in 1897 Closed churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Closed churches in New York City Roman Catholic churches in Manhattan {{Manhattan-church-stub