Church of the Ascension Parish House

12 West 11th Street | Greenwich Village | built 1844

Open on the map4 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

  1. 1844

    The Church of the Ascension completes a school building on West 11th Street

    After its trustees bought a plot at 12 West 11th Street in 1843, the church finished a four-story school there in 1844. It contained a chapel and an assistant minister's office. Over the following decades its students included members of families such as the Rhinelanders, Astors, and De Peysters.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1889

    McKim, Mead & White convert the school into a parish house

    The architects filed plans in June 1888 to turn the school into a brick and stone parish house, at a reported cost of $27,000. Completed in 1889, it is clad in yellow Roman brick with limestone trim. A three-story side bay holds the staircase, lit by stepped loophole windows, and the slate-shingled roof has dormers with leaded transoms.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1890

    J. Pierpont Morgan is elected president of the Church Choral Society

    The Church Choral Society, which met and rehearsed in the parish house, elected financier J. Pierpont Morgan its president in early March 1890, according to The Churchman. That year the building also housed the registry office of the Girls' Friendly Society and the Association for the Relief of the Industrious Poor.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1919

    The parish house hosts an exhibition of modern art including work by John Singer Sargent

    In spring 1919 the parish house held an exhibition of paintings by contemporary artists, among them John Singer Sargent, according to the New-York Tribune. A summer show of work by younger painters followed. The rooms were also used for lectures, forums, and meetings in these years.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 518 buildings with stories in Greenwich Village