Fourth Universalist Society
160 Central Park West | also 4 West 76th Street | Upper West Side | 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.
- 1898
William Potter's Gothic church rises at Central Park West and 76th Street, modeled on Oxford's Magdalen Tower
In 1898 the congregation, then called the Church of the Divine Paternity, built its present home, nicknamed the Cathedral of Universalism. Architect William Appleton Potter based the design closely on Magdalen Tower and other Magdalen College buildings in Oxford. Stern and his co-authors wrote in 1993 that it was a rare departure from the avenue's prevailing classical style.
“In 1898, the congregation built its current home, dubbed "the Cathedral of Universalism", at West 76th Street and Central Park West…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1917
The Skinner organ company takes a contract for work on the church's Hutchings-Votey organ
In 1917 the Ernest M. Skinner Company, which logged the job as its Opus 271, took a contract for work at the Church of the Divine Paternity. The contract covered the existing organ, listed as a 1904 Hutchings-Votey. The Skinner specification for the church lists four manuals and 58 stops.
Source: archive.pipeorgandatabase.org
- 1967
The Church of the Divine Paternity officially becomes the Fourth Universalist Society
The congregation began in 1838 as Friends of the Final Restitution and took the name Church of the Divine Paternity in 1848. In 1967 it formally adopted its present name, the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York. It is now the last of seven Universalist congregations the city once had.
“It officially took the name of Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York in 1967.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2017
Swastikas and the words 'race office' are carved into the church doors
Not long after the congregation declared itself a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants, two swastikas and the words "race office" were found carved into its doors. West Side Rag noted the phrase was used in Nazi Germany for offices promoting the Aryan race. Senior minister Schuyler Vogel said the church could not tell whether its new sanctuary status, its Black Lives Matter banner or wider bigotry was the trigger.
Source: westsiderag.com
- 2018
Aura Hernandez, a Guatemalan mother, takes sanctuary in the church to avoid deportation
In March 2018 Aura Hernandez, who has lived in the United States since 2005 and has two children who are U.S. citizens, moved into the Fourth Universalist Society's church for sanctuary, to escape deportation to Guatemala. In a Democracy Now! interview on March 29, host Amy Goodman said the church's senior minister was willing to be arrested to protect her. Hernandez said she felt protected there and had found good people.
Source: democracynow.org
- 2018
Members and neighbors raise more than $1.5 million to replace the church's aging roof
In 2018 the congregation began a second Save Our Universalist Landmark campaign, this time to replace a roof that was aging rapidly. Neighbors, state grants and church members all contributed. The effort raised over $1.5 million.
“In 2018, the congregation embarked on a second SOUL campaign, aimed at replacing a rapidly aging roof... raised over 1.5 million dollars.”
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
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