Manhattan's Historic Churches You Could Visit on a Sprinter Van Rental in NYC (Part 1)

FILED UNDER: General Bus Rentals NYC Tips and Tricks

 

 

 

Churches in the Big Apple are not just for the religious. Churches, temples, synagogues and other places of worship are a big part and a bastion of culture and history. You can learn a lot about the city by visiting its historic churches. You could also learn more about the events that happened at these places. So get on a sprinter bus rental in NYC and have a fun tour of NYC's old churches today.

 

 

Another draw for historic churches in the city is the architecture. These buildings present some of the finest examples of architecture in the city. More than these, you can also immerse yourself in the arts, including the visual art exhibits and the musical performances within church walls.

 

New York City is blessed to have historic places of worship in every area. You can ride a sprinter bus rental in NYC and tour churches in the same area, or churches having the same architectural styles.

 

Let us start this series with:

 

St. Paul's Chapel

 

St. Paul's Chapel is an Episcopal chapel, which is located on 209 Broadway between Vesey and Fulton Streets. This is the oldest surviving church in Manhattan, having been built in the 1760s. It sports Georgian architecture designed by James Crommelin Lawrence. Thomas McBean has also been credited for some of the chapel's design elements. Andrew Gautier served as master craftsman in the building of the church. The chapel also served an important role during the September 11 attacks when it became a resting place for volunteers and rescue workers. The chapel holds regular services, concerts and lectures. It is also active in providing shelter for the homeless.

 

Get your friends and family members on a sprinter van rental in NYC and go to:

 

Trinity Church

 

Built in the 1830s through the 1940s, the Trinity Church is one of the best known historic churches in Manhattan. It sports a gothic revival style designed by Richard Upjohn. The church spires used to be the tallest point in the city when it was completed in 1846 and the church building itself also holds the distinction of being the oldest public building that is in continuous use in the Big Apple. The church also has three burial grounds where you could find the graves of Alexander Hamilton, Franklin Wharton, William Bradford, Captain James Lawrence Robert Fulton, Albert Gallatin John James Audubon, John Jacob Astor, Clement Clarke Moore, and Alfred Tennyson Dickens, among many others. Aside from a full schedule of services, masses and prayer, the church is also where you could enjoy the Concerts at One, where contemporary and classical artists perform. The concert has been held here since the 1960s. On top of that, the church also has several choirs, such as the Trinity Choir.

 

Sea and Land Church

 

The Sea and Land Church is on Henry and Market Streets and was built in the 1810s. The church has a Georgian gothic revival design that made use of Manhattan schist. This is one of only three churches with such architecture on the Lower East Side and it is the second oldest church building in the Big Apple. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s.

 

A sprinter van rental in NYC can help take you to the following churches and admire their architecture, know their history or attend mass:

 

St. James' Roman Catholic Church

 

St. James' Roman Catholic Church is in Lower Manhattan and is the second oldest Roman Catholic Church building in New York City. It was built in the 1830s and sports a Greek revival and neo-classical design that is credited to Minard Lafever. See the Doric columns that flank the entrance to the church. The building is no longer in active use, as it was scheduled to be demolished in the 1980s. The demolition did not push through but the building was damaged by a fire in 2011. It was added to the NHRP in 1972 and was declared a city landmark six years before.

 

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

 

St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church was founded in the 1830s and is on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. The current building was built in the 1910s after the congregation had two earlier buildings built in the 1830s and 1870s. The present building has both Romanesque revival and Byzantine revival architecture designed by Bertram Goodhue (for the original site) and McKim, Mead & White. St. Bart's has been designated as a landmark of the city since the 1960s. Parishioners from all over the Big Apple come here to hear mass, and it is one of the wealthiest parishes of the city. St. Barts is also famous for its pipe organ, the biggest one in the city and among the biggest around the world.

 

And because this is New York City, you can always be sure that there are more. Another church you can go to on a sprinter van rental in NYC is:

 

St. John the Divine

 

With an official name like Cathedral Church of Saint John: The Great Divine in the City and Diocese of New York, this Episcopalian cathedral is sure to wow visitors. Built in the 1890s, the cathedral has seen a lot of style changes and has several architects, including Christopher Grant LaFarge, George Lewis Heins, and Ralph Adams Cram. It originally had a Byzantine and Romanesque revival architecture and then it sported a Gothic revival architecture when plans were changed in the 1910s. It was damaged by a large fire in December 2001 and was reopened in late 2008, but it remains unfinished and construction is ongoing until the present. You can also visit one of the United States' premiere textile conservation laboratories here. Further, the church interior also has great natural acoustics making it the best venue for chant, organ music, and choral music performances. The cathedral complex also features the Great Organ, which is the biggest of the five organs on the premises. For that added sense of history, did you know that some of the most famous people were given memorial services here? That list includes funerals for John Gregory Dunne, James Gandolfini, Jim Henson, Robert Joffrey, Madeleine L'Engle, Duke Ellington, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

 

Little Church Around the Corner

 

The Little Church Around the Corner, which is also known as the Church of the Transfiguration, is another Episcopal parish in Manhattan. the building was built in the 1840s and originally sported a neo-Gothic style designed by an unidentified architect. It has been developed, improved and extended over the years, and it was designated as a landmark in the 1960s and included on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. Residents and visitors to the Big Apple enjoy the church's gardens, sanctuary and free concerts during the weekdays.

 

Riverside Church

 

Riverside Church is located in Morningside Heights and is an interdenominational Christian church that is associated with both the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches USA but open to all Christians. The church is notable for its neo-gothic design and huge size. It is also known for its history related to social justice being a center of political debate and activism since it was opened. This is where Martin Luther King Jr spoke to make his opposition to the Vietnam War known. Jesse Jackson also gave a eulogy at Jackie Robinson's funeral in the 1970s. Other notable speakers in the church's history include bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, Cesar Chavez, Desmond Tutu, and Arundhati Roy. Advocacies supported by the church include LGBT, anti-torture, immigrants' rights, and prison ministry. Services happen every Sunday, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

 

Marble Collegiate Church

 

Marble Collegiate Church was founded in the 1620s and is one of the oldest still existing Protestant churches in the North American continent. Located on Fifth Avenue, the current church building was built in the 1850s with a Romanesque revival architecture with gothic elements designed by Samuel A. Warner. The structure was declared a New York City Landmark in the 1960s and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s. Norman Vincent Peale, who is the author of the bestselling book The Power of Positive Thinking, was a senior minister here for more than five decades starting in 1932. Worship services happen every Sunday and Wednesday. The church also hosts Jazz Revelation every Sunday.

 

Bialystoker Synagogue

 

The Bialystoker Synagogue is located in Manhattan's Lower East Side and was constructed in the 1820s as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church. The Orthodox Jewish synagogue sports a Federal style design and was named as a New York City landmark in the 1960s being the oldest building in the city that is used as a synagogue. It was added to the NHRP in the 1970s.

 

St. Augustine's Church

 

St. Augustine's Church is located in Manhattan. It was built in the 1820s and was first used by All Saints' Free Church. The Georgian style church was made out of Manhattan schist and featured gothic windows, designs that are largely attributed to John Heath. A sanctuary and chancel were added in the 1840s. The building is a city landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s.

 

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

 

The Basilica of Saint Patrick's Old Cathedral is located in Nolita. The church was built in the 1800s through the 1810s with a gothic revival style designed by Joseph-François Mangin. At the time it opened, it was the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the late 1870s when the new St. Patrick's Cathedral was opened. The old cathedral was named as a city landmark in the 1960s and then added to the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. The church was where the baptism scene in The Godfather was filmed, as well as one of the scenes in Mean Streets and an episode of Secrets of New York. Masses are celebrated at the church on Sundays, and one conducted in Spanish on Saturdays. Visit with your friends and family on a sprinter van rental in NYC today!

 

Mariner's Temple

 

Mariner's Temple is located in the Two Bridges area of Manhattan. The Baptist church was established in the 1790s and the church building was built around five decades later. The building sports a Greek revival design and Isaac Lucas is widely credited for its design. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1980. The oldest Baptist church site continues to have services and programmes on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays.

 

Church of the Transfiguration

 

Church of the Transfiguration is located on the corner of Mosco Street in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood. It was built in 1801 and rebuilt in the 1810s after the original structure was gutted by fire. It has a Georgian gothic architecture, with alterations and steeple designed by Henry Engelbert in the 1860s. The parish currently serves almost a purely Chinese congregation and has Sunday masses in Cantonese and Mandarin on top of English. Part of the complex is the Transfiguration School, a Catholic parochial school that was founded in the 1830s.

 

St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church

 

St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church is located on the corner of Lexington Ave and East 76th Street in Manhattan. This Catholic church was established in the 1880s to cater to the French Canadian parishioners in the area. With funds from Thomas Fortune Ryan, the church was built in the 1900s, with a mix of classical revival, Italian mannerism, and Italian Renaissance revival architecture designed by Nicholas Serracino. The church is one of only two churches in the city that has stained glass windows from Chartres and one of the few with a dome. The building was named a NYC landmark in the 1960s and was then listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1980s together with the rectory. Today the church holds masses three times a day and five times on a Sunday. It also holds a vigil every Saturday night.

 

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church

 

St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church is in the Financial District of Manhattan. The church was built in the 1830s and has a Greek revival architecture designed by Thomas Thomas and John R. Haggerty. It serves the oldest Roman Catholic parish in the state with an earlier structure used until this one was built. The building was named a city landmark in the 1960s and was subsequently added to the NHRP in the 1980s. The congregation recently merged with Our Lady of the Rosary but there are masses held every day.

 

St. Mark's in the Bowery Church

 

St. Mark's in the Bowery Church is at the intersection of Second Avenue and Stuyvesant Street in East Village. This is the oldest site of continuous religious practice with more than three centuries of history. It is also the second oldest church building in the area. The building itself was built in the 1790s and restored in the 1970s through the 1980s. It has a mix of Georgian, Federal, and Greek revival styles designed by several architects including Ithiel Town and Harold Edelman.

 

The church has actively supported the arts since the 19th century. Several great artists and performers have been featured in the church, including Isadora Duncan, MArtha Graham, William Carlos Williams, Amy Lowell, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Carl Sandburg, among many others. Today, the church hosts Poetry Project and Danspace Project, and other artistic endeavors. You could also visit the graves of several famous people such as Charles Anthon, John C. Colt, Miriam Friedlander, Thomas Addis Emmet, Gideon Lee, Daniel D. Tompkins, Peter Stuyvesant, and Alexander Turney Stewart.

 

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol

 

Beth Hamedrash Hagodol is an Orthodox Jewish church that is located in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood on Norfolk Street. The synagogue was built in the 1840s and features a gothic revival design. It was, however, closed in 2007 and is now in danger of being demolished because of the church's dwindling membership and attendance. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

 

Judson Memorial Church

 

The Judson Memorial Church is located on Washington Square South and is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the American Baptist Churches USA. Several elements of the church, its sanctuary, the Judson Hall and the campanile tower were declared as landmarks for the city and then listed as part of the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. The Italian Renaissance Sanctuary, designed by Stanford White was built in the 1880s to the 1890s and designed by Stanford White. The campanile tower was built in the 1890s and designed by McKim, Mead & White, while the hall was designed by John G. Prague and built in the 1870s. The church sponsors several art exhibits, music, performances, and other arts related events. Some of the notable artists who had their works exhibited here include Yoko Ono, Daniel Spoerri, Red Grooms, and Tom Wesselmann. The church also sponsors the Judson Dance Theater and the Judson Poets' Theatre. The church also has services, Sunday School, and Agape Sundays.

 

Read part 2 here.

 

Get a free online quote for a sprinter van rental in NYC just by filling out a short form on our Web site. And if you like the price you get (and we're sure you will!), you can call us at +1 (866) 952 8737 and reserve your van in just minutes!