Park Avenue Christian Church

1010 Park Avenue | also 66 East 85th Street | Upper East Side | built 1963

Open on the map8 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1911

    Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson finish a stone Gothic church built without a steel frame

    The Old South Dutch Reformed Church built this sanctuary between 1909 and 1911 to designs by Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson, whose building recalls the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris in its mass, spire and windows. It is built of stone in the original Gothic manner, with no steel in its construction. A lead-and-copper spire cast in England marks the crossing and rises seventy feet above the ridge, and the vaulted ceiling is Guastavino tile set between ribs.

    Source: parkavenuechristian.com

  2. 1911

    A Tiffany window shown in Chicago in 1893 is reinstalled in the new church

    The large east window over the entrance is counted among the finest examples of Tiffany glass in existence. Its six middle panels, showing the nativity, baptism and resurrection of Christ, had been temporarily taken out of the congregation's earlier church at 38th Street and Madison Avenue in 1893 to be shown at the Chicago Columbian Exhibition. When the windows were installed in the 1911 building, extra glass was added around each panel and in the tracery above.

    Source: parkavenuechristian.com

  3. 1914

    The Dutch Reformed congregation disbands and the building becomes a Presbyterian church

    The South Dutch Reformed Church dissolved in 1914. Its last members joined the First Union Presbyterian congregation, and the sanctuary took the name Park Avenue Presbyterian Church. A 1937 merger with Brick Presbyterian kept the joined congregations here until 1940, when they moved into their own church at 91st Street. The Betina Evangelical Church then used the building from about 1940 to 1945.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1945

    April 15

    The Disciples of Christ congregation settles at 1010 Park Avenue and takes the name Park Avenue Christian Church

    The congregation, among the oldest continuously serving Disciples of Christ churches, began on October 10, 1810, when nine people withdrew from the Ebenezer Baptist Church. On April 15, 1945, it put down roots at 1010 Park Avenue and adopted the name Park Avenue Christian Church. Since 2010 it has also been formally tied to the United Church of Christ.

    Source: parkavenuechristian.com

  5. 1993

    A restoration repairs the spire, stone walls and stained glass, and moves four hidden window panels

    A second phase of an extensive restoration began in 1992 and was substantially finished in 1993. The program replaced deteriorating stone walls with matching Manhattan schist from Bronx Zoo excavations, repaired the spire and the water-removal systems, and cleaned and re-leaded the stained glass, which years of settlement and vibration had left bulging and twisted. In 1994 four lower window panels hidden by the 1982 organ were relocated into empty niches along the nave's north side, in time for the congregation's 184th anniversary.

    Source: parkavenuechristian.com

  6. 2013

    September 13

    Extell proposes a 16-story tower over the parish house, and preservationists demand landmark status

    In September 2013 the preservation group Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts warned that Extell Development had submitted plans to demolish the church's parish house and build a 16-story residential tower cantilevering over the sanctuary. The group urged the Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold an emergency hearing to landmark the church and parish house, and to calendar a proposed Park Avenue Historic District from 79th to 96th Streets. Its notice listed a Community Board 8 Landmarks Committee meeting on September 16 where people could speak.

    Source: friends-ues.org

  7. 2015

    The Landmarks Commission approves a condo tower that replaces the church's 1963 annex

    In 2015 the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a controversial project that involved demolishing the church's 1963 annex and selling the land and adjacent air rights. The result was a 16-story, 210-foot limestone and schist-clad residential tower with eleven condominium units. The church and the developer signed a $24 million contract for the annex, and the units were priced from $15 million to $50 million each.

    “…approved a controversial development that involved the demolition of the church's 1963 annex and sale of land and adjacent air rights…”

    Source: Wikipedia

  8. 2016

    The Rev. Kaji Douša becomes senior pastor, the first woman and first Black woman to lead the church

    In 2016 the church called the Rev. Kaji S. Douša as its senior pastor. No woman, and no Black woman, had held the post before her; she follows the Rev. Alvin Jackson, now pastor emeritus, as the second African American in the role. The congregation belongs to both the Disciples of Christ and the United Church of Christ.

    “She is the first woman and the first Black woman to be called to this role, the second African-American after the Rev. Alvin Jackson…”

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

Nearby

All 93 buildings with stories in Upper East Side