Riverdale Presbyterian Church

4765REAR Henry Hudson Parkway West | also 4759 Henry Hudson Parkway West | Riverdale | built 1931

Open on the map4 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. 1863

    James Renwick designs a small stone parish church for Riverdale

    James Renwick Jr. drew the Riverdale Presbyterian Church in 1863 as a compact stone building with a steep slate roof, in a late Gothic Revival manner modeled on the small parish churches of England. A little square tower sits tucked into the angle between the wings, and the copper steeple on top came later. The entrance is a projecting stone vestibule with a pointed-arch door and a niche overhead.

    “This small stone church with its steep slate roof is not only extremely picturesque but is a particularly fine example of late Gothic Revival architecture.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1863

    Copper merchant William E. Dodge Jr. helps found the church and likely picks its architect

    William E. Dodge Jr. of Phelps, Dodge & Company, whose own Renwick-designed house, Greyston, was going up in Riverdale at the same time, was one of the leading figures behind the founding of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church in 1863. The Landmarks Preservation Commission wrote that Renwick almost certainly got the commission for the church on Dodge's advice.

    “He was also one of the moving spirits in the establishment, in 1863, of the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, an edifice designed by James Renwick, Jr., doubtless upon Dodge's recommendation.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1936

    The Civil War-era church is substantially enlarged

    In 1936 the Riverdale Presbyterian Church, drawn by James Renwick Jr. in 1863, was substantially enlarged. Renwick's original was a fieldstone church in an English-inspired late Gothic Revival style.

    Source: Wikipedia

  4. 1966

    April 19

    The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the church, and its trustees welcome it

    After hearings on January 11 and February 8, 1966, at which one witness spoke in favor and nobody opposed, the commission named the Riverdale Presbyterian Church a city landmark on April 19. The church's own board of trustees had written to say it was pleased. The commission called it a much-loved emblem of faith that had served Riverdale since the Civil War.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Further reading

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All 301 buildings with stories in Riverdale