Cathedral of St. Sava (former Trinity Chapel)
15 West 25th Street | also 16 West 26th Street, 13 West 25th Street | NoMad | built 1900
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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.
- 1855
Richard Upjohn's Gothic Revival Trinity Chapel is consecrated for uptown parishioners
Trinity Parish consecrated Trinity Chapel in 1855 to serve its members who had moved uptown. Architect Richard Upjohn gave it English Gothic Revival form in brownstone, with a steep slate roof, a large wheel window over the portal on 25th Street, and nine pointed-arch windows along each side of a nave noted for its length. A Clergy House attaches to the chancel, and a Parish House followed to the east.
“Consecrated in 1855 as Trinity Chapel to serve the uptown communicants of Trinity Parish…”
- 1865
Father Agapius Honcharenko leads what is described as the first public Orthodox liturgy in America, at Trinity Chapel
On March 2, 1865, Father Agapius Honcharenko, who presented himself as an Orthodox priest from the Russian Empire, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Trinity Chapel after Trinity's rector, Morgan Dix, promised him a room for services in one of the church's buildings. The New York Times reported a packed church, upward of fifty local clergymen and about sixty Greeks and twenty Slavs seated before the altar. Dix wrote that the day was memorable because the Eastern liturgy had been sung there.
Source: orthodoxhistory.org
- 1885
Novelist Edith Wharton marries at Trinity Chapel, then a fashionable uptown church
Edith Wharton was married at Trinity Chapel in 1885, when the church carried great social weight. Its single-aisled nave ran nearly 180 feet, and the open Norway pine ceiling rose almost eight stories above the floor. The walls were faced with French Caen limestone, which gave the interior a sense of light despite the plain, rugged stone exterior.
Source: flatironnomad.nyc
- 1887
Three Astor funerals are held at Trinity Chapel between 1887 and 1895
Trinity Chapel drew some of the city's richest families in its heyday. Daytonian in Manhattan records that the Astor family held three funerals here within about eight years, for Mrs. John Jacob Astor, William Astor and Mrs. William Waldorf Astor. The chapel was also a society wedding venue, where Rhinelanders and Gardiners married, and where Edith Wharton walked down the aisle.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1914
Rector William T. Manning says Trinity Chapel's congregation has left and the chapel may close
On January 25, 1914, the chapel's rector, Dr. William T. Manning, announced that his flock was moving away in large numbers, so efficient church work could no longer continue at the site. The New York Times said few tears would be shed, though it lamented the loss of yet another famous old building. The chapel nonetheless carried on for decades more.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1940
Fourteen murals of the life of Christ are dedicated in Trinity Chapel
With little money to spend, the chapel changed its interior very little in its late Episcopal years. On April 29, 1940, it dedicated a cycle of fourteen murals showing scenes from the life of Christ. The artist, Rachel M. Richardson, had spent ten years painting them. Only two years later Trinity Church put the whole complex up for sale.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1943
Serbian Orthodox community signs the deed for Trinity Chapel and its buildings
Trinity Church offered the chapel to Serbian, Russian and Greek Orthodox communities, and the Serbs were chosen. They had no church on the East Coast, King Peter II of Yugoslavia backed the plan, and Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic had close ties to Episcopal Bishop Manning. The whole complex with its furnishings was bought for $30,000 in 1942, and the deed was signed on March 15, 1943.
Source: stsavanyc.org
- 1944
The run-down chapel is consecrated as the Cathedral of St. Sava, the East Coast's first Serbian Orthodox church
As the neighborhood turned commercial, the congregation thinned and Trinity Chapel decayed to the brink of being abandoned. Not long after World War II began, the church was put up for sale, and members of the Serbian Orthodox Church took it over. It was consecrated on June 11, 1944, as the Cathedral of Saint Sava, the East Coast's first Serbian Orthodox church.
Source: flatironnomad.nyc
- 1962
A hand-carved iconostasis from a monastery in Ohrid is blessed in St. Sava Cathedral
In 1962 the cathedral installed and blessed a hand-carved iconostasis in the Byzantine manner that had been brought from the Monastery of St. Naum at Ohrid, Yugoslavia. The Russian iconographer Ivan Meljinkov painted its icons. The floors of the parish hall were also reinforced that year.
Source: stsavanyc.org
- 1966
A bomb near the cathedral destroys some of its stained glass
On September 4, 1966, a bomb exploded close to the church and shattered part of its stained glass, which was later replaced with new windows in Byzantine style. Four years earlier the parish had installed a hand-carved oak iconostasis from the Monastery of Saint Naum in Ohrid, with icons painted by the Russian iconographer Ivan Meljinkov.
“…a bomb went off near the church on September 4, 1966 destroying some of the stained glass…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1968
The city designates the cathedral and its clergy and parish houses a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the cathedral, Clergy House and Parish House on April 18, 1968, after a hearing at which two witnesses spoke in favor. The board chairman, who also spoke, later told the commission that the congregation now supported designation. The commission's report dates the Serbian Orthodox Church's purchase to 1945 and promises to cooperate on future alterations.
- 1992
Serbian Patriarch Pavle becomes the first patriarch to visit St. Sava in New York
In October 1992 Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Pavle visited St. Sava Cathedral. It was the first time a patriarch had visited the New York church community. The visit came nearly fifty years after Serbian parishioners bought the former Episcopal Trinity Chapel and turned it into their cathedral on West 25th Street.
Source: stsavanyc.org
- 2016
A four-alarm fire destroys the cathedral on Orthodox Easter
The fire at the Cathedral of Saint Sava began around 7 p.m. on May 1, 2016, the day Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter. Parts of the roof collapsed, and by evening only the church facade was left standing. No one was seriously injured or missing. Priest Djokan Majstorovic said it felt like a nightmare as firefighters kept him back from the scene.
Source: cbsnews.com
- 2018
St. Sava sues its insurer for at least $47 million over the cost of rebuilding after the fire
Two years after the 2016 fire ravaged the cathedral, the parish sued its insurer, Church Mutual, for negligence. It said rebuilding would cost about $60 million, while the insurer had estimated only $12.7 million. Authorities had concluded the blaze began when a caretaker left candles burning. The church asked for at least $47 million in damages.
Source: nypost.com
- 2023
The first Divine Liturgy since the fire is held inside the partly rebuilt shell
Fire marshals found that candles not fully put out after Easter services caused the 2016 fire. The parish sued its insurer in 2018 for $47 million after a payment of $12.7 million, and the two sides settled in April 2019. A new nave roof was finished that July, and the parish held its first Divine Liturgy since the fire inside the partly rebuilt church on February 7, 2023.
“On February 7, 2023 the first Divine Liturgy since the fire was held within the shell of the partially rebuilt church.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Trinity Chapel ComplexWikipedia
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