St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Parish House

83 Christopher Street | West Village | built 1886

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.

1883
December 23
St. John's Lutheran congregation counts a school of about 1,000 pupils in its parish house at 83 Christopher Street
When pastor Augustus Wedekind told his Christopher Street congregation on December 23, 1883, that its debt had fallen from $25,000 to $8,000, the church was reporting about 1,500 members, over 11,000 baptisms and 5,163 weddings. Its school ran from the parish house next door at No. 83 and had roughly 1,000 pupils. The congregation then spent the money it raised on construction rather than on the debt.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
1886
Berg & Clark give the St. John's parish house a Romanesque Revival brick front
In 1886 the church hired the architects Berg & Clark to give its parish house at 83 Christopher Street a new front. They used round-arched windows on the first and second floors, set in radial brick edged with terra cotta molding, and square-headed windows on the third floor. A band of corbelled brick forms the cornice. The building still houses St. John's School.
“In 1886, a new brick front was added; it was designed by Berg & Clark for the church in the Romanesque Revival style…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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