The church was founded in 1847,[2] and its first sanctuary was at 50West 23rd Street, completed in 1854. It then moved to a red sandstone Gothic church designed byJohn Rochester Thomas at its current location, which was built in 1883–1884. It also had a chapel at 223West 67th Street, which was later used by St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church.[1]
In 1923, Calvary became one of the earliest churches to operate its own radio station and has since maintained a long tradition of widely followedreligious broadcasts.[3] "Tell It From Calvary" is a radio show that the church still produces weekly; it is heard onWMCA.[4][5]
The building at 123 West 57th Street was an early example of an urban high-rise, or "skyscraper", church, a 16-story building which also included the Hotel Salisbury, an apartment hotel. Planning for the edifice began in 1929, with the design credited to the firm ofJardine, Hill & Murdock, and the building was dedicated in 1931.[1][6][7][8] TwoSteinway grand pianos were donated to the church by pianistVan Cliburn, who attended periodically while living in the hotel.
In 2019, Alchemy and ABR Investment Partners announced that they would acquire the sites at 123–141 West 57th Street from the Calvary Baptist Church. The developers planned to replace these sites with a 26-story tower containing a church sanctuary, offices, and shops.[11][12] In early 2020, Calvary Baptist Church and the Salisbury Hotel closed in preparation for demolition.[13][14][15] Following a delay due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Alchemy Properties acquired the church in 2021[16] and announced plans to redevelop the site.[17][18] Demolition began in 2022,[19] and the next year, the church leased space at a synagogue on86th Street.[20]
1918-1929John Roach Straton. During his tenure, Calvary was nationally known as a center for fundamentalism and efforts to reform society in his vision of Bible-based morality.[26][27][28][29]
1936-1949 William Ward Ayer[32] A poll found preacher and religious broadcaster Ayer to be Manhattan's "third-most influential citizen", behindEleanor Roosevelt and religious broadcasterBishop Fulton Sheen.[33]
1959-1973Stephen F. Olford[35][36][37] Olford "took it as a challenge to seek to overcome prejudice" and the church was desegregated under his leadership.[38] Today, the church "celebrates [the] congregation’s ethnic, racial, social-economic, generational, and cultural diversity within [the] unity in Jesus Christ" as one of its core values,[39] a diversity that "reflects what heaven will look like one day."[40]
^MacArthur, Robert Stuart."The Expositor and current anecdotes", Cleveland, Ohio. Vol XI, no. 7, April 1910, page 372. MacArthur had been pastor of Calvary Baptist 40 years, during which time he received 5000 members. He was an author, with 22 published volumes of sermons and compiled widely used hymnals. 10 persons were at the church's founding in 1847. Gives fairly detailed church history up to that point. The mother church had 2300 members, and 3 daughter congregations had been founded. Retrieved November 20, 2009
^"The modern dance".The Lutheran Witness Vol. XXXVI, no. 22, (October 30, 1917), pp 335-336. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, quotingMilwaukee Free Press (February 28, 1912), andSt. Louis Post Dispatch (February 24, 1917). Rev. Joseph W. Kemp of Calvary says dancing of 150 years ago was ok, but modern dancing, in which a man places his right hand on a woman's waist, and holds her right hand with his left, while they dance the "two step," was a "shameless exhibition," showing that a man must have "degenerated in his morals" leading to "debauchery," which "violates the soundest hygienic laws. Retrieved November 20, 2009
^"Religion: Calvary Baptist."Time (July 4, 1927). Notes the pentecostal meeting led by Uldine Uley, pupil ofAimee Semple McPherson and protégée of Straton. Five deacons objected to pentecostal delerium in the Monday night Bible class lasting until 2 am. Loud objections from her supporters led the deacons to resign and be criticized by Straton as trying to 'throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of the "Gospel train" of which he was the engineer.' Retrieved November 20, 2009
^"Religion: Blatant Staton"Time (August 30, 1928). Article on Staton's morality and fundamentalism efforts 1920-1928, leading to his debate with Presidential candidateAl Smith. Mentions his 1923 ouster of 29 members for an alleged plot to oust him, and the 1926 expulsion of 4 trustees who criticized him for accepting a salary from another church while on a long vacation. Mentions his "Girl Evangelist"Uldine Utley in 1927. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
^Carpenter, Joel A.Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism page 46: In the 1930s and 1940s, under Pastors Houghton and Ayers, Calvary was a "pocket denomination" with Moody Memorial in Chicago and Church of the Open Door in LA, with newspapers, radio programs, missionaries, and Bible conferences. Retrieved November 20, 2009
^Balmer, Randall Herbert.Encyclopedia of evangelicalism Pp 39-40. "Ayer, William Ward (1892–1985)." Pastor of Calvary 1936, for 13 years. Church grew from 400 to 1600 members. "Morning Truth" broadcast widely heard. Fervent fundamentalist, but warned against being "too contentious." Anti-Communist, sometimes anti-Catholic. First president of "National Religious Broadcasters." Retrieved November 20, 2009.
^"Religion: twisting the devil's tail"Time (March 16, 1953). Notes AM radio stationWQAO initiated broadcasting from Calvary in 1923. Says Rev John S. Wimbush continued radio ministry, and it was the "oldest continuing religious broadcast on the air," though the broadcasts by then were onWMGM.They continued to espouse fundamentalism. Church membership: 1500. Notes move to 17 story hotel/church in 1931. Notes the independent Baptist church has stronger ties to Southern Baptists than to Northern Baptists. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
