First Presbyterian Church (Manhattan)
The First Presbyterian Church, known as "Old First",[1] is a church located at 48 Fifth Avenue between West 11th and 12th Streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1844–1846,[2] and designed by Joseph C. Wells in the Gothic Revival style.[3] The south transept of the building was added in 1893–1894, and was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White.[4][5] The church complex, which includes a parish house – now referred to as the "South Wing"[4] – on West 11th Street and a church house on West 12th Street designed by Edgar Tafel, is located within the Greenwich Village Historic District.[3]
First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York
1716
1719
Active
Presbytery of New York City
Rev. Dr. Greg Stovell
Michael Shake
Buildings and architecture[edit]
The English-born[2] architect, Joseph C. Wells, based the sanctuary after the Church of St. Saviour in Bath, England,[7] but for the tower used Magdalen Tower, Oxford, as a model.[7] Beginning in 1893, the same year that McKim, Mead and White began construction of the church's south transept,[4] the church installed stained glass windows by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Francis Lathrop, D. Maitland Armstrong and Charles Lamb.[15] These were restored in 1988.[7] With the addition of the chancel and its new stained blue glass rose window in 1919, the reredos, originally painted by Taber Sears in 1917, was moved to the new chancel's western wall, and was repainted.[4]
The church complex, which is surrounded by a fence, partly of wood and partly of cast-iron,[4] also includes a stone Gothic Revival parish house or "South Wing" at 7 West 11th Street,[16] which includes the Alexander Chapel added in 1937, with stained glass windows on Scottish themes.[4] The interiors of the rooms in the South Wing were significantly renovated and remodeled in the 1990s,[4] and many of the rooms are available for rental.[17] On the north side of the complex is the Church House at 12 West 12th Street, the Mellin Macnab Building,[17] built in 1958–60, and designed by Edgar Tafel,[3] who apprenticed under Frank Lloyd Wright. Tafel's design combined Prairie School influences with the Gothic style of the sanctuary,[7] and has been called "a fine example of contemporary design ... used intelligently, to bring a much needed contemporary building into harmony with a neighborhood."[18] Tafel's design won an award from the Fifth Avenue Association.[4]
Pipe organs[edit]
The church commissioned two pipe organs from organ-builder Sebastian M. Glück. The smaller of the two instruments, known as the Rees Jones Memorial Pipe Organ, is in the Georgian English style and was installed in Alexander Chapel in 2003. The mammoth IV-manual, 93-rank sanctuary organ was completed in 2009. It is a comprehensive symphonic instrument that also incorporates elements from historic schools of organbuilding, notably its "Werck" division based upon a 32' Quintadehn, and its high-pressure Tuba division. The organs are used for recitals, teaching and oratorios with orchestra, in addition to their regular use for church services.
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