Edgehill Church of Spuyten Duyvil
2570 Independence Avenue | Spuyten Duyvil | built 1889
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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.
- 1885
Riverdale Presbyterians raise money for a new chapel on land given by Mary Cox
The congregation, small because most foundry workers were Irish Catholics, still outgrew its first chapel. In 1885 members of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church pledged money for a church at Spuyten Duyvil, on a plot given by Mary E. Cox, whose husband was one of Johnson's partners. By June, $3,300 of an estimated $3,500 cost had been raised.
“The church was to be built on land donated by Mary E. Cox, the wife of one of Johnson's partners.”
- 1888
Francis H. Kimball designs a chapel mixing stone, shingles and Tudor half-timbering
Kimball set the chapel on a steep slope, using the terrain to make it look different from every angle; only from the south can it be seen whole. It rests on a high base of random ashlar stone, with bands of square-cut and fish-scale shingles and half-timbered gables above, and trefoil-arched windows. The design year, 1888, is carved into a timber of the porch gable.
“The date of the building's design, 1888, is carved into the horizontal timber at the base of the gable…”
- 1889
Builders raise the new chapel in under a month
Kimball sent in his designs in 1888, but work only began on April 1, 1889. City Buildings Department records show it finished by April 29, 1889. That January the old wooden chapel had been handed over to Isaac Johnson to sell, with the money going toward the new one.
“…construction did not begin until April 1, 1889. The records of the New York City Buildings Department record that work was completed on the church by April 29, 1889…”
- 1916
Tiffany Studios windows honor members of the Johnson family
Four Tiffany Studios stained-glass windows fill the transepts. The Johnson children gave "The Sower" in memory of Isaac G. and Jane E. Johnson; "Shepherd and His Flock" remembers Arthur Gale Johnson (1862-1916); a small window shows a child, for Isaac G. Johnson Jr., who died in 1893; and "River of Life" honors two boys, Gerald Bradley and Lloyd Ramsay Johnson.
“The large window in the north transept, "The Sower," was given in memory of Isaac G. Johnson and his wife Jane E. Johnson by their children.”
- 1917
The chapel goes independent as Edgehill Church, bought for one dollar
In April 1917 the chapel's union congregation asked to incorporate and take over the property, and that September the Riverdale Presbyterian trustees voted to hand over chapel and land to the newly formed Edgehill Church of Spuyten Duyvil at a price of $1.00. The church joined the Congregational denomination in 1939, which merged into the United Church of Christ in 1957.
- 1977
Retired Methodist William A. Tieck takes over the shrinking congregation
By 1977 attendance had dropped sharply, and there were plans to close the church and turn it into a community center. Instead the Rev. Dr. William A. Tieck, who had retired from the Methodist ministry, became its pastor and led the congregation until he died in 1997.
“…the pastoral leadership was assumed by the Rev. Dr. William A. Tieck, a retired Methodist, who led the congregation until his death in 1997.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1980
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates Edgehill Church
After a hearing on July 12, 1979, where two witnesses spoke for it and none against, the commission made the church a landmark on November 25, 1980. Its report called the building a rare survivor of the years when Spuyten Duyvil was a thinly settled place at the city's northern edge, before high-rise apartments came with the Henry Hudson Parkway.
- 2022
The Kingsbridge Historical Society takes over Edgehill Church
In 2022 the church was handed to the Kingsbridge Historical Society, the borough's oldest such group. The former United Church of Christ parish had been a city landmark since 1980 and on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Edgehill Church of Spuyten DuyvilWikipedia
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