Church of the Ascension, Episcopal (Manhattan)

Parish history

The Church of the Ascension was first organized in 1827, – was one of the early Greek Revival buildings in the city, designed by the city's first professional architectural firm, Town & Thompson, the partnership of Ithiel Town and Martin Euclid Thompson. Built in 1828–29, the church burned down in 1839, prompting the move to the parish's current location and church. Until the new church was completed, the parish met in a number of places for two years.

Not long after the church opened, on June 26, 1844, United States President John Tyler married Julia Gardiner.

In 1865, under then-rector James Cotton Smith, the parish began a mission church – originally the Chapel of the Shepherd's Flock, later the Ascension Memorial Chapel – at 249 West 43rd Street, building a sanctuary there in 1895. This acquired the nickname of "The Little Brick Church in Times Square".

In response to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the rector Donald Bradshaw Aldrich opened the doors of the church 24-hours a day for prayer and meditation, earning the church the name "The Church of the Open Door". This policy was in effect for decades: about 30,000 people visited the church in the 1960s. Although the doors are not still open around the clock, the stained-glass windows are illuminated at night.

The church reported 189 members in 2016 and 216 members in 2023; no membership statistics were reported in 2024 parochial reports. Plate and pledge income reported for the congregation in 2024 was $419,550 with average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 76 persons.

Buildings

Richard Upjohn's design for the church is "closely related" to his designs for Trinity Church in Manhattan, which began construction slightly earlier, in 1839, and Christ Church in Brooklyn, which came afterwards. The brownstone church is symmetrical, and features a square tower.

Stanford White's interior design was "one of the great collaborative efforts of the era", and features a pulpit designed by Charles Follen McKim; mosaics by D. Maitland Armstrong; a marble reredos by Louis Saint-Gaudens, the brother of Augustus Saint-Gaudens; several stained glass windows by John LaFarge and his altar mural The Ascension, a 30 ft by 35 ft piece

The parish house designed by McKim, Mead and White took a previously existing building and turned it into a Northern Renaissance-inspired building of yellow brick with bottle-glass windows.

Organ

The church has had a series of organs since its construction in 1840–41. The current organ is The Manton Memorial Organ http://ascensionnyc.org/worship/manton-organ/ which was dedicated on May 1, 2011. The organ was built by Pascal Quoirin of St. Didier in Provence, France. It is the first organ built in France to be installed in New York City and replaced a Holtkamp Organ Company instrument built in 1966.

Gallery

File:Church of the Ascension (New York), from Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views crop.jpg|A late 19th century photograph of the church File:Ascension-lafarge.jpg|The Ascension by John LaFarge (1835-1910) File:Church of the Ascension Parish House.jpg|Parish House (1843–44), altered in 1888-89 by McKim, Mead & White File:Church of the Ascension Rectory.jpg|alt=Rectory (1839–41): 145–146|Rectory (1839–41)

References

Notes

References

1. (September 10, 2007). "Church of the Ascension". National Park Service.
2. {{NRISref
3. Pitts, Carolyn. (December 20, 1986). "Church of the Ascension (Protestant Episcopal) – National Register of Historic Places Inventory". National Park Service.
4. (December 20, 1986). "Church of the Ascension (Protestant Episcopal, Two accompanying photos, interior, from 1976 – National Register of Historic Places Inventory". National Park Service.
5. {{cite nycland
6. {{cite aia5
7. and their first church – located on the north side of [[Canal Street (Manhattan). Canal Street]] east of [[Broadway (Manhattan). link. (April 15, 2015 New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists website)
8. {{cite gotham
9. Since Gardiner was much younger than Tyler, [[John Quincy Adams]] called the couple the "laughing-stock of the city."{{cite fromatoz |pages=17-18}}
10. "Explore Individual Parochial Report Trends".