Church of St. Catherine of Genoa (Manhattan)

40°49′49.72″N 73°56′40.84″W / 40.8304778°N 73.9446778°W / 40.8304778; -73.9446778

Church of St. Catherine of Genoa
(2014)
Map
General information
Architectural styleEclectic
Town or cityHamilton Heights
Manhattan, New York City
CountryUnited States
Construction startedchurch: 1889[1]
rectory c.1926[3]
Completedchurch: 1890[1]
rectory: c.1926[3]
school: 1937[2]
Costschool: $45,000[2]
ClientRoman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Technical details
Structural systemMasonry brick
Design and construction
Architect(s)1890 church: Thomas H. Poole[1]
1937 school: Jules Lewis[2]
Website
Church of St. Catherine of Genoa, Manhattan

The Church of St. Catherine of Genoa is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 504 West 153rd Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.[4]

The AIA Guide to New York City calls the gabled church "a unique star" of the Hamilton Heights neighborhood.[5]

History

The church c.1914

The parish was established in 1887[1][6] from Annunciation and St. Elizabeth parishes south and north of it.[7] Services were held in a local movie theater until a church could be built.[7]

The church was constructed between 1889 and 1890 in an Eclectic style, to the designs by Thomas H. Poole.[1] The design is particularly marked by the building's wide crow-stepped gable and ogee-headed openings, very similar to Poole's more compact Our Lady of Good Counsel (1892), and a predecessor to Poole's grander-scaled St. Thomas the Apostle in Harlem, now closed. The facade is "golden-hued brick", and the building features a "deep porch sheltered by a bracketed entryway."[5]

School

A parish school run by the Sisters of Mercy, opened in 1910. In 1937 the Rev. John J. Brady had a four-story brick schoolhouse built at 508-510 West 153rd Street to designs by Jules Lewis known as the Annex, it opened in 1938. In 1946, all classes were consolidated in the Annex and the original school became Bishop Dubois High School. The parish school finally closed in 2006.[7]

Rectory

The rectory next door at 506 West 153rd Street was built c.1926.[3]

Parish

The parishioners of St. Catherine of Genoa were Irish immigrants when the church was established. Today there is a mix of African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans and Haitians. Services are held in English, Spanish, French and Haitian/Creole.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7. p.197
  2. ^ a b c Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," (Accessed 25 Dec 2010).
  3. ^ a b c "506 West 153rd Street" on the New York City Geographic Information System map
  4. ^ The World Almanac 1892 and Book of Facts (New York: Press Publishing, 1892), p.390.
  5. ^ a b White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7. p.519
  6. ^ Lafort, Remigius Lafort. 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.321.
  7. ^ a b c d Poust, Mary Ann. "Come One, Come All, St. Catherine of Genoa Has a Place for Everyone" Catholic New York (November 28, 2012)