St. Mary's Church

440 Grand Street | Lower East Side | built 1920

Open on the map5 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. 1827

    March 25

    Bishop DuBois dedicates the city's first Catholic church with a bell

    Established in 1826 when the diocese bought a former Presbyterian chapel on Sheriff Street for $7,000, St. Mary's was dedicated by Bishop John DuBois on March 25, 1827. It was noted at the time as the first Catholic church in New York City to have its own bell.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  2. 1831

    November 9

    Nativist arsonists burn down the original St. Mary's church

    Anti-Catholic attackers set fire to the Sheriff Street church on November 9, 1831, destroying it completely; pastor Rev. Luke Berry died fighting the blaze. The parish responded by buying land at Grand and Ridge streets that same month for a new, larger church.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1833

    June 9

    A new Greek Revival church opens at Grand and Ridge Streets

    The cornerstone for the rebuilt church was laid April 30, 1832, and Bishop DuBois returned to dedicate the finished building on June 9, 1833. Built in the Greek Revival style, it had four massive brownstone Doric columns supporting a classical portico, with side walls of undressed fieldstone.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1871

    February 26

    Patrick Keely remakes St. Mary's in Romanesque Revival style

    Architect Patrick Charles Keely redesigned the church's exterior in Romanesque Revival style, adding twin steeples in red brick and brownstone along with stained glass domes and skylights inside. The $93,000 project was completed February 26, 1871.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 2026

    April 7

    The city designates St. Mary's an official landmark

    The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated St. Mary's Church an individual city landmark on April 7, 2026, citing the building's ties to the history of New York City's immigrants. The LPC called it the Lower East Side's oldest sanctuary for a Catholic parish, in the same year the parish marked its 200th anniversary.

    Source: Wikipedia

Further reading

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All 78 buildings with stories in Lower East Side