Church of St. Ignatius Loyola
980 Park Avenue | Upper East Side | built 1883
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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.
- 1851
The foundation stone of St. Lawrence O'Toole's church is blessed on the site
This corner was first the site of St. Lawrence O'Toole's church, a Yorkville parish under Father Eugene O'Reilly. A gabled frame chapel, 35 by 60 feet, was built first as a makeshift church. On October 20, 1851, with the foundation partly dug, the stone for the permanent church was blessed before a large crowd of Catholics and Protestants.
Source: archive.org
- 1853
The first Mass is celebrated in St. Lawrence's unfinished brick church on Christmas Day
Work on the superstructure of St. Lawrence's new church began on June 8, 1853, with Berrian handling the masonry and McAuliffe the carpentry. On Christmas Day of that year the first Mass was said in the building even though its interior was unfinished. The plain surroundings, one history of the parish noted, made parishioners more willing to give money for a richer home for the church.
Source: archive.org
- 1881
A section of the ceiling falls into the sanctuary during Mass
On November 19, 1881, a large section of the ceiling falls into the sanctuary of the parish's brick church during Mass. The accident underlines the case for a new church that Father David Merrick, who arrived that June, is already weighing. After two years of fundraising reaches $41,000, work begins on a new foundation, and on June 27, 1886, its basement is furnished with pews and dedicated as a church.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1886
The basement of a never-built Gothic church is dedicated for worship
After two years of fundraising the parish had $41,000 and began excavating a foundation for a larger church. On June 27, 1886, the basement level was fitted with pews and dedicated. The Gothic Revival church with buttresses and lancet windows that was planned above it was never built, and the stumps of its buttresses remain as a reminder of the abandoned plan.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1888
The old church is cleared of pews for a fair to build a new school
In the fall of 1888 the parish's old church was stripped of its benches and filled with booths for a fair to raise money for a new home for St. Lawrence's Academy. Prominent New Yorkers, the mayor among them, visited and left donations, and the receipts beat all expectations. The Sisters used part of the proceeds to strengthen the floor, and the space was afterward used as a hall with chairs.
Source: archive.org
- 1895
Schickel & Ditmars win a design competition for the church
Pastor Neil McKinnon wanted a church as imposing as St. Francis Xavier's on 16th Street. Plans prepared for earlier pastors by O'Connor, Keeley and Poole had been set aside, so the parish called for new designs, and the firm of Schickel & Ditmars won. At a meeting of the parish corporation on June 24, 1895, McKinnon cited $147,900 on hand to begin building, with more to be raised by bond and mortgage on the property. Work began that year.
Source: archive.org
- 1898
The unfinished church of St. Ignatius Loyola is dedicated
Schickel & Ditmars design the new church for the Jesuit-run parish, formerly St. Lawrence O'Toole, basing it on Il Gesu in Rome. Its limestone facade begins rising in 1895, and on December 11, 1898, the still unfinished building, which has cost $250,000 so far, is dedicated. Rome has agreed that the upper church honors St. Ignatius while the lower church keeps the name St. Lawrence O'Toole. The church is completed in 1900.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1969
The city designates the church a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the church a New York City landmark on March 4, 1969. The building had been built between 1895 and 1900 to the designs of Schickel & Ditmars. It is added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1980.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1994
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's funeral is held at the church, with its new Mander organ
In 1993 the church installs a London-built Mander pipe organ of nearly 5,000 pipes that weighs over 20 tons. A year later the organ provides the music for the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. In 2001 hundreds of mourners wait outside the church during the funeral of the singer Aaliyah.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2001
Hundreds of mourners gather outside the church for Aaliyah's funeral
After the singer Aaliyah was killed in 2001, her funeral was held at St. Ignatius Loyola. Hundreds of mourners waited outside the church for a glimpse of her silver casket. The Park Avenue church, whose 1993 Mander organ supplied the music for Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's funeral in 1994, had hosted that funeral seven years earlier.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2002
Cardinal Egan forbids changes to the church's historic interior
Tension had built since the Second Vatican Council called for changes in Catholic churches, such as moving the monstrance aside, removing the communion rail and bringing the altar nearer to worshippers. When rector Walter F. Modrys began renovations in 2002, Cardinal Edward Egan intervened and barred any alteration of the historic interior. The New York Times described a struggle between serving today's parishioners and preserving a historic building.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 2010
Singer Lena Horne, a regular communicant, is mourned in a funeral at the church
Lena Horne, the singer, actress and civil-rights activist, was a regular communicant at St. Ignatius Loyola, and her funeral was held there on May 14, 2010. The parish has counted other well-known figures among its parishioners, including Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier and the Postmaster General James A. Farley.
“Lena Horne, singer, actress, and civil rights activist – May 14, 2010 (she was a regular communicant at the parish)…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2023
Logan Roy's funeral in Succession is filmed inside the church
The church complex has often served as a film and television location, appearing in Woody Allen's Interiors and in a confessional scene in Gossip Girl. In 2023 the elaborate funeral of Logan Roy in the fourth season of Succession was shot on site.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (New York City)Wikipedia
- The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola -- 980 Park AvenueDaytonian in Manhattan
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