St. Anthony of Padua Friary
151 Thompson Street | also 149 Thompson Street | SoHo | built 1886
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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.
- 1882
Father Anacletus De Angelis buys the Houston Street blockfront alone at a blizzard auction
A blockfront on West Houston Street between Thompson and Sullivan was put up for auction on January 31, 1882. Father Anacletus De Angelis of the Italian parish of St. Anthony of Padua was the only person to show up in the blizzard, so he got the lot unopposed: three tenements and part of an ale brewery, for $27,000. The price emptied the parish treasury, and a year later he said the new church would have to wait about two years.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1886
St. Anthony's cornerstone is laid, with a French Second Empire friary planned behind the church
The cornerstone of St. Anthony's new church was laid on June 13, 1886, with architect Arthur Crooks placing a tin box of newspapers in the stone. He chose a Sicilian Romanesque design for the church, but turned to Paris for the friary that runs back to Thompson Street. It is four stories and a basement of rough-cut granite with limestone trim, topped by a slate mansard, a central stone section with a four-sided dome, and a copper spire.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1895
Monsignor Satolli, the first Apostolic Delegate to the U.S., is driven straight to the friary on arrival
The first Apostolic Delegate to the United States, Monsignor Satolli, reached New York on June 12, 1895 and was driven straight to the Franciscan monastery at 151 Thompson Street. Archbishop Michael Corrigan called on him soon after he arrived, and Vicar-General Farley visited later. The next morning Satolli said a pontifical high mass in the church on Sullivan Street, the opening event of several he led during his stay.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1914
Parishioners donate gold jewelry to be melted into a reliquary for a relic of St. Anthony
In 1896 The World reported that hundreds came to the chapel every Tuesday to see the relic of St. Anthony kept at the friary. After years of handling, its gold case wore out, and on June 15, 1914 the New York Times reported that Italian-born parishioners had donated jewelry and coins to be melted down for a new one. The solid gold receptacle stands 16-1/2 inches high and is set with emeralds, rubies and pearls.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1938
A fire at the friary kills three, including Father Richard Fagan
A fire at the friary in 1938 left three people dead. One of them was Father Richard Fagan, a young priest who had gotten out of the burning building but went back in twice to rescue two fellow priests, Louis Vitale and Bonaventure Pons. Father Fagan Park, at Prince Street and the Avenue of the Americas just outside the Sullivan-Thompson Historic District, is named in his memory.
Further reading
- The 1886 St. Anthony of Padua Friary - 149-153 Thompson StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
Nearby
- Church of St. Anthony of Padua155 Sullivan Street | 7 entries
- 147 Thompson Street2 entries
- St. Anthony's Memorial Hall145 Thompson Street | 1 entry
- 152 Thompson Street2 entries
- 149 Sullivan Street3 entries
- 139 Thompson Street1 entry