St. Patrick's Church

256 Center Street | Richmondtown | built 1862

Open on the map3 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. 1862

    March 17

    Catholics lay the cornerstone of St. Patrick's Church beside Richmondtown

    Before this church, the parish's first masses were said in a small frame building on Center Street. On January 7, 1862, Father Barry of St. Joseph's Church in Rossville bought the present site, and the cornerstone went down on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, of the same year. The finished church measures 71 by 40 feet and holds about 400 worshippers.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1862

    St. Patrick's rises as a plain brick church in the early Romanesque Revival style

    The church gets its effect from projecting forms rather than ornament: a central tower pushed forward from the white-painted brick front, round-arched stained glass windows on either side, and a recessed arched doorway flanked by 19th-century wrought-iron lamps. A stepped, arched corbel trims the steep gable and rings the base of the belfry, which is topped by a slender polygonal spire and cross. The landmarks commission found it little changed since construction.

    “…this appealing Church is a fine example of the early phase of the Romanesque Revival style of architecture. Built in 1862…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1968

    February 20

    The Landmarks Commission designates St. Patrick's Church a New York City landmark

    After an October 1966 hearing where nobody spoke against it, the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated St. Patrick's in February 1968, with the approval of the parish's pastor, Monsignor Patrick A. Gallagher. The commission called the church a dignified example of brick construction and a memorial to the missionaries who brought Catholicism to Staten Island.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 2 buildings with stories in Richmondtown