Construction started 1873 Phone +1 212-682-5722 | Structural system Masonry | |
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Location New York City, United States Completed 1877 (for church)
1904 (for the sacristy and rectory)
1998 (for rebuild) Demolished 10 December 1992 (fire) Client Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Address 143 E 43rd St, New York, NY 10017, USA Cost 31,000 USD (for the sacristy and rectory) Architectural styles Gothic Revival architecture, Baroque Revival architecture Architects Jeremiah O'Rourke, Lawrence J. O'Connor Similar Holy Innocents Church, St John the Evangelis, Our Saviour Church, Our Lady of Victory Church, St Benedict the Moor | ||
The Church of St. Agnes is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 143 East 43rd Street, Manhattan, New York City. The parish was established in 1873.
Contents
Parish
The parish was intended to serve Italian laborers of Grand Central Terminal and Depot. Rev. Harry Cummings Macdowell, nephew of Father Jeremiah Cummings of St. Stephen's, was the first pastor, assisted by Rev. A. Catoggio. The parish was organized on July 13, 1873. Macdowell had rented a hall over Croton Market on 42nd St. as a temporary chapel and passed out handbills to announce the fact to the local Catholic residents.
A Sunday school was begun on 43rd St. The parish school, located at 152 East 44th Street, was organized in 1893.
The church hosted Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's radio and television broadcasts on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith for over half a century. The broadcasts, including the famous "Death of Stalin," were some of the most important influences in reshaping mainstream twentieth-century American attitudes on Catholicism. As an important venue for media, and with its proximity to the center of New York City, the church often played hosts to rallies, such as the starting point for John Cardinal O'Connor's anti-abortion march from this church.
Buildings
The church was built 1873-1877 to the designs of Lawrence J. O'Connor. Builders were Moran and Armstrong and Michael J. Newman. The basement was completed and used as a chapel which was dedicated by John Cardinal McCloskey on January 11, 1874. A Celtic cross crowned the gable. The sanctuary contained a chancel window depicting St. Agnes. The completed church was dedicated by Cardinal McCloskey on May 6, 1877.
The parish constructed a four-story brick and stone rectory and sacristy in 1904 to designs by Jeremiah O'Rourke & Sons of 756 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey for $31,000.
The church burned in 1992.
It was replaced in 1998 by a building designed by Acheson, Thornton, Doyle, patterned after the Church of Il Gesù in Rome and retaining two surviving towers from O'Connor's original church.
The altar triptych in the rebuilt church was painted by Sean Delonas.