Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church
890 Flatbush Avenue | Flatbush | built 1920
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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.
- 1654
Peter Stuyvesant authorizes a wooden cross-shaped church at Midwout
In 1654 Governor Peter Stuyvesant authorized a wooden church on this site in the town of Midwout. He specified a cross shape, 60 to 65 feet long and 28 feet wide, with the pastor's quarters at the rear. Brownstoner calls this the oldest continuously used site for religious purposes in New York City. This first church is long gone, and the present building is the third on the site.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1698
A stone church with a steeple replaces the wooden one
The second church on the site, built in 1698, was made of stone and had a steeple. It stood until the present church was built in the 1790s, and the new church rests on a foundation built with the older church's stones.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1798
Thomas Fardon's Federal-style church is finished with a landmark spire
The present church was built between 1793 and 1798 to a design by Thomas Fardon, of local stone and Holland brick. The landmarks commission said its tower carries one of the most beautifully scaled church spires in the city, over an octagonal wood lantern, and likened it to the spire of St. Paul's in Manhattan. The walls rest on a foundation made with stones from an earlier church.
- 1966
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the church an early city landmark
The church was designated a landmark on March 15, 1966, Number 8 on the commission's list. After a hearing on February 8, the commission found that it set a high standard for country church design, was a beautifully preserved early church, and stood on one of the oldest church sites in the city. Minister Cornelius VanderNaald neither pleaded for nor objected to designation.
“March 15, 1966, Number 8 ... Rev. Cornelius VanderNaald, said that he offered neither a plea for nor an objection to designation…”
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