Built 1914 Opened 1914 Added to NRHP 16 June 2005 | NRHP Reference # 05000617 Area 6,100 m² | |
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Location 279 E. 17th St., Brooklyn, New York Architectural style Gothic Revival architecture Architecture firm Helmle & Corbett Architects Similar Church of St Francis of Assisi, Church of the Sacred Hearts of, St Michael's Church, Our Lady of Victory Church, St Monica's Church | ||
Church of the Holy Innocents is a historic Roman Catholic parish church in the Diocese of Brooklyn located at 279 E. 17th St. in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, New York. The church was built in 1923 in the Late Gothic Revival style. It is built of granite with limestone trim. It consists of a tall, clerestoried nave with gable roof, lower flat-roofed side aisles, transepts, chancel, and a tall bell tower. Attached to the church is a rectory (1923) and school (1914).
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
Music
The organ at Holy Innocents Church was built in 1922 by the Ernest M. Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts as their Opus 390 3 manuals, 33 stops, 32 ranks. The instrument was rebuilt in 2005 by the Peragallo Pipe Organ Company of Patterson, NJ. The current Director of Music is Dr. Alfred E. Cresci, himself a 1968 graduate of Holy Innocents School. Dr. Cresci has been regularly attending the church since 1964, and is solely responsible for obtaining $360,000.00 grant from the Joseph G. Bradley Charitable Foundation of Bryn Mawr, PA. The grant for the historic grant led to the church becoming the first in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn to be classified as a member of the National Historic Registry. The grants garnered by Dr. Cresci on behalf of Holy Innocents have totaled in excess of one million dollars. It all started with the funding for the Skinner organ.
The organ is primarily used for the Saturday 5pm Mass in English, the Sunday 8am Mass in English, the 9:30am Mass in Spanish and the 11:30am Mass in English. The English Adult Choir which is heavily dependent on the organ for choral accompaniment, is one of the longest running in Brooklyn, beginning its existence in 1973.