St. John the Evangelist Church (Manhattan)

The Church of St. John the Evangelist
The church and school around 1914 (demolished 1969)
General information
Town or city	New York, New York
Country	United States of America
Construction started	1969 (for present church); 1907 (for school); [1] 1947 (for garage) [1]
Completed	1973 (for present church); 1908 (for school) [2]
Cost	$80,000 (for 1907 school); [1] $900 (for 1947 garage) [1]
Client	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Franklin A Green and John V. Van Pelt, Associated of 333 Fourth Avenue (for 1907 school); George J. Sole of 110 East 42nd Street (for 1947 garage) [1]
Website
St. John the Evangelist Church, Manhattan

The Church of St. John the Evangelist is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 355 East 55th Street at First Avenue, Manhattan, New York City. ^[3]

Parish

The parish was established in 1830.^{[ citation needed ]} Or according to other sources in 1841 "with a rather stormy history." ^[2] The church originally stood on the site of the present St. Patrick's Cathedral, Manhattan. The first Catholic presence of the site there dated from 1810 when the Society of Jesus moved their academy to a fine old house on 50th Street and Fifth Avenue where they created a chapel of St. Ignatius. The chapel was then occupied by Trappist monks from 1813 to 1815, and appears to have ceased function after that. Bishop of New York John Dubois reopened the chapel in 1840 for Catholics employed at the Deaf and Dumb Asylum and in the general neighborhood. ^[2]

First building

A modest frame church was built and dedicated 9 May 1841 by the Rev. John Hughes, administrator of the diocese. Tickets were sold to the dedication to ease the parish's debt level, managed by a lay Board of Trustees, but to no avail and the property mortgage was finally foreclosed on and the church sold at auction. The stress is said to have contributed to the death that year of the church's pastor, the Rev. Felix Larkin. The experience was blamed on the management of the trustees and this incident is said to have played a significant role in abolishing lay trusteeship, which occurred shortly thereafter. The young and energetic Rev. Michael A. Curran was appointed to raise funds for the devastated parish, and shortly fitted up an old college hall as a temporary church. Fr. Curran continued raising funds to buy back the church during the Great Famine in Ireland, eventually succeeding and taking the deed in his own name. "The site of St. Patrick's Cathedral, hence, came to the Church through the labors of this young priest and the self-denial of his countrymen and not by the gift of the city." ^[2] The debt was finally all paid for by 1853, by which time it had become clear that a larger church for the parish was needed elsewhere as its current site had been selected for the new cathedral.

Second building

Rev. James McMahon (later of Catholic University) had a new church built one block east of Madison Avenue, freeing the previous site for St. Patrick's Cathedral. The new church measured 140 by 90 feet and contained an organ constructed under the direction of Fr. McMahon, who was a skilled musician. A fire on 10 January 1871 destroyed both church and organ, yet the church was rebuilt again within a year. ^[4]

Third building

With the opening of St. Patrick's in 1879, St. John's parish was moved to East 55th Street at First Avenue. Under Monsignor James J. Flood, a new church was begun in 1880 and completed in 1886. ^[4] A brick garage was built 1947 at 344-348 E 56th Street to the designs of architect George J. Sole of 110 East 42nd Street for $900. ^[1]

Present location

The 1886 church stood until 1969, when it was demolished to allow construction of the Archdiocese of New York Chancery building, which contains a new space within the building for the church. ^[5] In 2015, the parish of Our Lady of Peace merged with St John's to form a new parish named St. John the Evangelist-Our Lady of Peace. The Our Lady of Peace church building was subsequently sold in February 2017, to the Egyptian Christian Coptic Orthodox Church community. ^[6] It then became St. Mary & St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church. ^[7]

School

The church had a four-story brick and stone school at the southwest corner of First Avenue and 56th Street built in 1907 to the designs of architect Franklin A Green and John V. Van Pelt, Associated of 333 Fourth Avenue for $80,000. The parish school opened in 1908, ^[1] and was staffed by the Sisters of Charity of New York. ^[2] The school was later demolished.

Pastors

• 1840-September 1842: Rev. John Maginnis
• 1842-1844: Rev. William Nightingale
• 1844-?: Rev. Felix Larkin
•  ?-May, 1850: Rev. Michael A. Curran
• 1850-1879: Rev. James McMahon ^[2]
• 1879-?: Msgr. James J. Flood, who was assisted by Rev. John T. O'Reilly and others. ^[8]
• 2023: Msgr. Douglas J. Mathers

External links

• St. John the Evangelist official website

References

1. Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," (Accessed 25 Dec 2010). Archived 15 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
2. Lafort, Remigius. The Catholic Church in the United States of America: Undertaken to Celebrate the Golden Jubilee of His Holiness, Pope Pius X. Volume 3: The Province of Baltimore and the Province of New York, Section 1: Comprising the Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, Buffalo and Ogdensburg... . (New York City: The Catholic Editing Company, 1914), p.339-340.
3. The World Almanac 1892 and Book of Facts (New York: Press Publishing, 1892), p.390.
4. "Church of St. John the Evangelist". NYC Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
5. "Cooke Dedicates East Side Church". The New York Times. April 15, 1973. p. 44. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
6. Dos Santos, Juliann (February 15, 2017). "Pope Francis Blesses Our Lady of Peace Church Sale to Egyptian Coptics". Catholic New York.
7. St. Mary & St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church
8. "Changes in Catholic Clergy: Archbishop Farley Announces a Number of Assignments and Transfers", New York Times , Jun 11, 1904. Retrieved 21 July 2011

40°45′26″N73°57′51″W / 40.75733°N 73.96417°W / 40.75733; -73.96417