Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, also known as The German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Saint Luke's and St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, is a historic Lutheran church located on Restaurant Row at 308

West 46th Street West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

between Eighth and

Ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

Avenues in the

Theater District A theater district (also spelled theatre district) is a common name for a neighborhood containing several of a city's theatres. Places *Theater District, Manhattan, New York City *Boston Theater District *Buffalo Theater District *Cleveland Theater ...

of Manhattan, New York City.

History

St. Luke's was founded as a Dutch Reformed congregation in 1850, first meeting in rented rooms on the third floor of a building on 35th Street and 9th Avenue. It reorganized as a Lutheran congregation in 1853. The church moved several times, acquiring its first owned building, a former Baptist church on 43rd Street, in 1863. It moved in 1875 to 233 West 42nd Street, into the former Forty-second Street Presbyterian Church. Finally, the congregation acquired property at West 46th Street to build its current church. The cornerstone was laid in October 1922 and the church dedicated in September 1923. For many years, Dr.

Donald Grey Barnhouse Donald Grey Barnhouse (March 28, 1895 – November 5, 1960), was an American Christian preacher, pastor, theologian, radio pioneer, and writer. He was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1927 to his deat ...

, pastor of

Tenth Presbyterian Church Tenth Presbyterian Church is a congregation of approximately 1,600 members located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Tenth is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), a denomination in the Reformed (Calvi ...

in Philadelphia and teacher on the radio program, ''The Bible Study Hour'' (now known as ''Dr. Barnhouse & the Bible''), held a Bible class on Monday evenings at the church, which lasted until his death in 1960. An independent congregation without

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin ...

ic affiliation since 1880, St. Luke's joined the

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. , it has approxim ...

in 1987. Playhouse 46 @ St. Luke's is located on the church's premises.

Architecture

The church was built in 1922–23 to the designs of Edward L. Tilton of Tilton & Githens, with the facade of the nave featuring windows designed by Francis Xavier Zettler. The building was completed in 1923. The architecture has been described as a happy marriage between the

Gothic Revival 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 ...

and Art Deco styles. A four-story parish house at 308–316 West 46th Street was built 1922 to designs by architect

Francis Keally Francis J. Keally (1889 - 1978) was an American architect and pioneering preservationist, based in New York City. Keally's design credits include the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Oregon in 1938, in a one-time association with Trowbridge & L ...

of 141 East 45th Street at the cost of $150,000. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

References

External links

*
Official St. Luke's Lutheran Church NYC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lukes Lutheran Church, New York City Churches in Manhattan Lutheran churches in New York City Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan German-American culture in New York City Churches completed in 1923 20th-century Lutheran churches in the United States 1850 establishments in New York (state) Religious organizations established in 1850 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Art Deco architecture in Manhattan Gothic Revival church buildings in New York City Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan