St. Veronica's Church
149 Christopher Street | West Village | built 1903
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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.
- 1887
Archbishop Corrigan creates St. Veronica's parish, and its first services are held in a stable
To relieve the overcrowded St. Joseph's on Sixth Avenue, Archbishop Michael Corrigan created the parish of St. Veronica's in January 1887 for the far western edge of the Village, estimated at 6,000 people. Father John F. Fitzharris led the new parish, and services began that April in a temporary chapel in a warehouse and stable building at 626 Washington Street. A year later he bought the Christopher Street lot for $69,500.
- 1903
Parishioners worship in the basement for thirteen years while St. Veronica's slowly rises
The cornerstone of St. Veronica's was laid on March 16, 1890, but money from the impoverished parish came in slowly, so for about thirteen years the congregation worshiped in the basement while construction crept along above. Two parish fairs run by the women, with games, refreshments, music and homemade gifts, raised more than $33,000. The church finally opened on June 7, 1903, sixteen years after the parish was founded.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1903
John J. Deery of Philadelphia designs a stocky Victorian Gothic church of brick and limestone
The architect for St. Veronica's was John J. Deery, who split his time between Philadelphia and New York and, like his mentor Edwin Durang, worked mostly on churches. He also designed baseball fields for the Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago teams. His Christopher Street church is a stocky Victorian Gothic building of brick and limestone, valued more for solidity than for grace.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1918
Father John J. Brady, a former St. Veronica's assistant, earns the Distinguished Service Cross at Belleau Wood
John J. Brady was an assistant rector at St. Veronica's in 1916. He left to join the Navy, then moved to the Marine Corps soon after the United States entered World War I, and became the first Catholic chaplain to land with American troops in France. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for tending the wounded along the front lines at Belleau Wood on June 6, 1918, and he is said to have comforted about thirty dying German soldiers as well.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1927
Boxer Gene Tunney, a parishioner, sends $1,000 as St. Veronica's is finally consecrated
St. Veronica's had never been consecrated because of a $279,000 mortgage. Pastor Patrick Drain wrote to Gene Tunney, a parishioner and 1911 graduate of the parish school, and the boxer's $1,000 check arrived just as the debt was paid off, so the priest used it to paint the rectory. Cardinal Hayes consecrated the church on November 27, 1927.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1993
A memorial of brass plaques for neighbors lost to AIDS is installed in the church balcony
During the AIDS epidemic, Cardinal John O'Connor turned to Mother Teresa, whose nuns set up a small hospice for 15 men with AIDS in the parish's converted rectory. In June 1993 the Village AIDS Memorial was installed in the church balcony, with brass plaques naming more than 1,000 local residents who had died. An interfaith service in their memory was held there each year during Pride week.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2017
St. Veronica's holds its last official Mass as the archdiocese closes the church
On June 25, 2017, St. Veronica's held its last official service, and the congregation was directed to St. Bernard's, on West 14th Street, where the parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe meets. A group of parishioners fought the closure, taking their case to the Vatican, and on July 2, 2020 Cardinal Timothy Dolan rescinded the decree of closure.
“On Sunday, June 25, 2017, the historic St. Veronica's Catholic church on Christopher Street hosted its last official services.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
The archdiocese issues a Decree of Relegation for St. Veronica's, setting it up for sale
In August 2025 the Archdiocese of New York issued a Decree of Relegation for St. Veronica's, a step toward ending its use as a church and selling it. Village Preservation, which won landmark protection for the church in 2006, wrote to the Landmarks Preservation Commission asking it to watch the building, whose roof repairs had been repeatedly put off.
Source: Village Preservation
Further reading
- St. Veronica Church (Manhattan)Wikipedia
Nearby
- 659 Washington Street1 entry
- 157 Christopher Street2 entries
- 661 Washington Street1 entry
- St. Veronica's Rectory657 Washington Street | 2 entries
- 655 Washington Street2 entries
- 147 Christopher Street3 entries