St. George's Syrian Catholic Church is a former church located at 103 Washington Street between Rector Street and Carlisle Street in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

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 church is the last physical reminder of the Syrian American and

Lebanese American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

community that once lived in Little Syria.

History

Originally three stories tall with a peaked roof, the structure was built c.1812, and by 1850 was being used as a boardinghouse for immigrants; an additional two stories were added on in 1869. In 1925, the building was purchased by George E. Bardwil, a textiles importer, for the use of the Syrian Greek Catholic church, organized in 1889 to serve the

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

- and

Lebanese-American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

community in the Little Syria neighborhood, also known as the Syrian Quarter. Four years later, Harvey F. Cassab, a

draftsman, was hired to create a new facade for the building. His neo-Gothic design in white

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

with a

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors. Ancient Egypt Colossal statu ...

relief of

St. George and the Dragon In a legend, Saint Georgea soldier venerated in Christianitydefeats a dragon. The story goes that the dragon originally extorted tribute from villagers. When they ran out of livestock and trinkets for the dragon, they started giving up a human tr ...

remains intact.Caratzas, Michael D
"(Former) St. George's Syrian Church Designation Report"

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

(July 14, 2009) After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the

and Lebanese population in the area declined, in part because the community was destroyed to make way for the

Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and commonly referred to as the Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a tolled tunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook in Brooklyn with the Battery in Manhatta ...

ramps. The

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to communi ...

community later moved to Atlantic Avenue in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. The church briefly became a

Roman Rite The Roman Rite ( la, Ritus Romanus) is the primary liturgical rite of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. It developed in the Latin language in the city of Rome and, while dist ...

church, and then became disused as a church. In 1982 the building was bought by Moran Inc. and was turned into an Irish pub. The pub has now closed, however the building is still owned and maintained by Moran Inc. The

designated the building a

New York City landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

on July 14, 2009. Marc Beherec argues that this church was the inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's

The Horror at Red Hook "The Horror at Red Hook" is a short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft, written on August 1–2, 1925. "Red Hook" is a transitional tale, situated between the author's earlier work and the later Cthulhu Mythos. Although the story depicts a ...

. The building was constructed by Ryneer Suydam, a man with a name very similar to that of the story's Robert Suydam. Beherec argues that the building's conversion from Suydam's Federalist tenement to a Gothic church by a sect he (erroneously) believed to be Nestorian, which began while he was in New York inspired Lovecraft.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Syrian Cath Buildings and structures completed in 1812 Churches completed in 1929 Closed churches in New York City Eastern Catholic churches in New York (state) Eastern Catholicism in New York City Financial District, Manhattan Former Catholic church buildings Lebanese-American culture in New York (state) Melkite Greek Catholic churches in the United States New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Syrian-American culture in New York City

History

See also

References

External links