Church of the Holy Communion and Buildings | |
 The buildings in 2010, as the Limelight Marketplace | |
    | |
| Location | 656–662Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue) Manhattan,New York City |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°44′27.8″N73°59′38″W / 40.741056°N 73.99389°W /40.741056; -73.99389 |
| Built | 1844 |
| Architect | Richard Upjohn |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 80002680[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 17, 1980 |
| Designated NYCL | April 17, 1966 |
TheChurch of the Holy Communion and Buildings are historic formerEpiscopal church buildings at 656–662Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) atWest 20th Street in theFlatiron District ofManhattan,New York City. A pioneering work of AmericanGothic Revival, the church served as an Episcopal parish from its construction in 1845 to its closure in 1975. The buildings have since been used used for a number of different purposes, most famously as the New York City location ofThe Limelight nightclub from 1983 to 2003. It currently houses a gym.
The church is aNew York City landmark, designated in 1966,[2] and was added to theNational Register of Historic Places in 1980.[3] It is located within New York City'sLadies' Mile Historic District.
TheGothic Revival church building was constructed in 1844–1845 according to a design byRichard Upjohn, and wasconsecrated in 1846.[4] In 1853 Upjohn completed the Parish House andRectory on West 20th Street, and in 1854 he built the Sister's House.[2][4] The design of the church, which featuresbrownstone blocks chosen for placement at random,[4] made the church "one of the most influential buildings of the 19th century".[2] It was:
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[the] first asymmetrical Gothic Revival church edifice in the United States ... Upjohn designed the building to resemble a small medieval English parish church ... The church's founder, the ReverendWilliam Muhlenberg, a leader of the evangelical Catholic within the Episcopal Church, was closely involved with the design ...[2]
Muhlenberg believed that the Gothic style was "the true architectural expression of Christianity."[4]
At the time it was built, the neighborhood around the church was still a fashionable residential area, with homes lining Sixth Avenue.[4] By the late 19th century, as the city continued to expand uptown, the area had become part of the"Ladies' Mile" shopping district, with Sixth Avenue lined with giant department stores and dry goods emporia, which by World War I had all either moved uptown or closed.
The church had some esteemed organists and choirmasters, includingLynnwood Farnam from 1920 until his death in 1930, andCarl Weinrich from 1930 to 1943.[5]
In 1975 the declining parish merged with those ofCalvary Church, onPark Avenue South atEast 21st Street, andSt. George's Church, atStuyvesant Square, and the combined parish ofCalvary-St. George's the Church of the Holy Communion granted a ninety-nine year lease to theLindisfarne Association.
The building became the Lindisfarne Association's headquarters from 1976 to 1979. Through the work of its founderWilliam Irwin Thompson and start-up grants from theLilly Endowment and theRockefeller Brothers Fund, the church became a cultural center in whichGary Snyder,Robert Bly,Wendell Berry, Samuel Menash, andKathleen Raine gave poetry readings,Paul Winter andDavid Hykes gave concerts, Jerzy Grotowksi andAndre Gregory lectured on theatre, and philosophers such asGregory Bateson,Francisco Varela, and Thompson himself gave the lectures that became their subsequent books.Keith Critchlow andJohn Michel taught courses on sacred architecture, and representatives of world religions such as Nechung Rinpoche, Seyed Hosein Nasr, andPir Vilayat Khan gave public presentations. TheLindisfarne Association, however, was unable to raise the funds to restore this historical landmark, consequently, Lindisfarne moved toCrestone, Colorado, and returned the church to the Episcopal parish.
The parish subsequently sold the building toOdyssey House, adrug rehabilitation program, in order to meet its fiscal obligations.[4][6] Odyssey House, in turn, sold the buildings tonightclub entrepreneurPeter Gatien, who opened the New YorkLimelight club there in 1983.[7][8]
From 1983 until 2007, the church was utilized as anightclub,The Limelight. After frequent problems with the police and charges of rampant drug abuse in the club, it was closed, but reopened in 2003 under the name "Avalon". It closed permanently in 2007. The church building during its time as the Limelight was the subject of the 1985 song "This Disco (Used to be a Cute Cathedral)" by singerSteve Taylor. The song's lyrics mentions the club's name and history. It is included in his albumOn The Fritz. A live version appears on his album,Limelight.
On May 7, 2010, the building was reopened as a retail mall called the Limelight Marketplace. It was promoted with a campaign which utilized advertisements on local buses, taxicabs, and billboards.[9][10]
In the fall of 2014, the church was converted to a David Barton Gym.[11] On December 21, 2016, this location as well as all four other David Barton Gym locations in NYC abruptly closed their door for business. In June 2017, it reopened as Limelight Fitness.[12][13] By 2025, the Limelight location had been closed, and the church was available for sale or lease.[14][15]
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