- Church of the Heavenly Rest
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Church of the Heavenly Rest at Fifth Avenue
The Church of the Heavenly Rest is an Episcopal Church on the Upper East Side of New York City, located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 90th Street, opposite Central Park and the Carnegie Mansion. The building is noted for its architecture, and for some of its congregation members.
Contents
Congregation history
The Church was founded in 1865 (officially established in 1868) by American Civil War veterans, with the assistance of Reverend Robert Shaw Howland. It was meant as a memorial to soldiers who had died in the American Civil War. By 1900, the Church amassed close to 1000 members. The Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest was originally located on Fifth Avenue and 46th Street before moving to its present site.[1]
Present church building
The land for the current site was sold to the church in 1926 by Louise Whitfield Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie's widow. Carnegie purchased the site in 1917 for $1.7 million dollars shortly after a sign was erected reading "for sale without restrictions," his ownership prevented apartment house development there that would intrude on his mansion's surroundings, but the site remained undeveloped with only a few billboards and a lemonade stand on one of the city's most expensive addresses. Its subsequent sale to the church carried the restrictions that the land could only be used "for a Christian church no higher than 75 feet, exclusive of steeple" through 1975.[2]
The limestone church was designed in the neo-Gothic style by the firm Mayers, Murray & Phillip, successors to Bertram Goodhue. Goodhue died before the first stone was laid. Mayers Murray & Phillip took over construction.[3] It opened Easter Sunday 1929, seating 1,050, at a cost of $3.2 million. Sculpture was to be executed by Malvina Hoffman, Lee Lawrie, and other artists.[2] The architecture and sculpture combined Neo-Gothic styles with Art deco details.[1] However, over two-thirds of the sculptural program was never executed; sculptor Janet Scudder withdrew from a commission in 1928 after it was downsized. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 ended other work and the blocky limestone facade was retained without sculpture.[4]
Innovative design features included unobstructed views of the altar, indirect lighting and a high-tech sound system.[2]
Notable people
President Chester A. Arthur's funeral took place there.[5] Gloria Swanson's ashes were interred there.
References
- ^ a b "Church of the Heavenly Rest: Our History and Mission". http://www.heavenlyrest.org/html/mission.html. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ a b c Gray, Christopher. New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan’s Significant Buildings and Landmarks. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003), p.280.
- ^ "New York Architecture Images: Church of the Heavenly Rest". http://www.nyc-architecture.com/UES/UES117.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
- ^ Gray, Christopher. New York Streetscapes: Tales of Manhattan’s Significant Buildings and Landmarks. (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003), p.282.
- ^ Reeves, Thomas C. (1975). Gentleman Boss. NY, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 418. ISBN 0-394-46095-2.
External links
Media related to Church of the Heavenly Rest at Wikimedia CommonsCategories:- Churches in Manhattan
- Religious buildings completed in 1929
- 20th-century Episcopal church buildings
- Gothic Revival architecture in New York
- Episcopal churches in New York
- Religious organizations established in 1865
- Fifth Avenue (Manhattan)
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