Middle Collegiate Church House

50 East 7th Street | East Village | built 1892

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. 1892

    Samuel B. Reed designs the Middle Collegiate Church's parish house

    Samuel B. Reed designed 50 East 7th Street as the Sunday school and parish house for the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, built in 1891-92 at the same time as Middle Collegiate Church at Second Avenue. The Romanesque Revival building has five stories, with a limestone base and Roman brick above. Its two-bay facade has a dormer on one side and a tower on the other, and a round-arched portico marks the main entrance.

    Source: buildingblocks.villagepreservation.org

  2. 1929

    A Boy Scout troop organizes at 50 East 7th Street

    A Boy Scouts troop was organized at the Middle Collegiate Church's parish house in 1929. By then the building held an auditorium for lectures, a gymnasium, and Sunday school rooms. A 1930 church yearbook described Sunday school classes for boys, girls, young men, and young women, plus physical education and health classes for young men.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  3. 1986

    The church launches the Celebrate Life Meal program for people with HIV/AIDS

    In 1986, as the AIDS crisis hit New York, the Celebrate Life Meal for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS began at the church's parish house on East 7th Street. A meal was served every Monday night, and groceries and vegetables were handed out. A social worker, a nurse, and a nutritionist were also on hand, along with entertainment and parties.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  4. 1987

    The Divine Theater opens in the parish house auditorium

    Around 1987 the Divine Theater was established in the auditorium of the church house at 50 East 7th Street. Its early productions included Bertolt Brecht's theater-dance piece Dog and Bone that November. The theater was renamed the Cooper Square Theater in 1989 and went on to offer performing and visual arts.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

  5. 2020

    December 4

    A fire destroys Middle Collegiate Church, and its church house becomes the new worship space

    Middle Collegiate Church at 112 Second Avenue was destroyed by fire on December 4, 2020. After holding services online and at East End Temple, the congregation converted the church house at 50 East 7th Street into its new worship space. The conversion removed the stoop and lowered the entrance to street level, with the engaged columns extended to fill the gap.

    Source: Daytonian in Manhattan

Further reading

Nearby

All 572 buildings with stories in East Village