Old St. Patrick's Cathedral

268 Mulberry Street | also 256 Mulberry Street | Nolita | built 1900

Open on the map5 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1815

   May 14

   Old St. Patrick's Cathedral is dedicated, the first Catholic cathedral in New York

   The diocese hired the French-born architect Joseph-Francois Mangin, who had just co-designed City Hall with John McComb Jr. The cornerstone was laid on June 8, 1809, and the church was dedicated on May 14, 1815. Two quasi-towers flanked the entrance, with a large Gothic-style window in a broken pediment. The New York Gazette called it one of the city's greatest ornaments.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

2. 1838

   Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist, has his funeral at the cathedral

   Lorenzo Da Ponte wrote the libretti for several Mozart operas and had left Europe for America in 1805. He later became a professor at Columbia University and helped start what grew into the Metropolitan Opera. His funeral in 1838 was held at St. Patrick's on Mulberry Street, and a very large crowd attended.

   Source: Wikipedia

3. 1844

   Parishioners and Hibernians guard the cathedral against an anti-Catholic mob

   The Ancient Order of Hibernians had put its headquarters across the street to protect the church. In 1844 anti-immigrant mobs tried to burn it. Bishop John Hughes gathered Hibernians and parishioners behind the brick wall, where they cut gun holes and held off the crowd, though stones broke many windows. Hughes warned the mayor that if Catholics or their businesses were attacked, New York would become a "second Moscow."

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

4. 1866

   A fire guts the old cathedral, and Henry Engelbert rebuilds it as a boxier Gothic church

   A fire in 1866 wrecked the building, even though the new Fifth Avenue cathedral was already going up. Henry Engelbert, better known for Second Empire buildings, rebuilt it as a boxy Gothic church, rededicated in 1868. The twin towers and big Federal window were lost. Organ builder Henry Erben, who had installed an organ in 1852, rebuilt it as the work neared completion.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

5. 1879

   The Fifth Avenue cathedral opens and Old St. Patrick's becomes a parish church

   When the new St. Patrick's Cathedral opened uptown in 1879, the Mulberry Street church stopped serving as the city's cathedral and became a parish church. Its interior was used to film the baptism scene in The Godfather and a scene in The Godfather Part III in which Michael Corleone receives a church honor.

   Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Nearby

• St. Patrick's Chancery Office (St. Michael's Chapel)266 Mulberry Street | 5 entries
• 277 Mott Street1 entry
• Henry Rehwinkel House288 Mulberry Street | 4 entries
• Hawley & Hoops Chocolate Factory (Mulberry Street Library)285 Lafayette Street | 3 entries
• Old St. Patrick's Rectory263 Mulberry Street | 4 entries
• Puck Building295 Lafayette Street | 13 entries

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