| Church of the Messiah I | |
|---|---|
 1826–37, Mercer and Prince Streets | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°43′46″N73°59′35″W / 40.72940°N 73.99313°W /40.72940; -73.99313 (Broadway at Waverly Place) |
| Opened | 1826 |
| Demolished | 1837 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Josiah R. Brady |
| Church of the Messiah II | |
|---|---|
 1839–65, Broadway at Waverly Place | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°43′29″N73°59′55″W / 40.72486°N 73.99866°W /40.72486; -73.99866 (Mercer and Prince Streets) |
| Opened | 1839 |
| Demolished | 1865 |
| Church of the Messiah III | |
|---|---|
 1867–1930, 34th Street and Park Avenue | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| Location | Manhattan,New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°44′51″N73°58′54″W / 40.74753°N 73.98160°W /40.74753; -73.98160 (34th Street and Park Avenue) |
| Opened | 1867 |
| Demolished | 1930 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Carl Pfeiffer |
TheSecond Congregational Church in New York, organized in 1825, was aUnitarian congregation that had three permanent homes inManhattan, New York City, the second of which became a theater after it left it. In 1919, the congregation joined theCommunity Church movement and changed its name toCommunity Church of New York.[1] The same year, its church building on34th Street was damaged by fire.[2] From 1948 until 2022, the congregation was housed at 40 East 35th Street.[3][4]: 49 As of 2024, the church offices are located on East 35th Street, and services are held at the neighboringChurch of the Incarnation. The Community Church of New York is a member of theUnitarian Universalist Association.
The first Unitarian Society in New York was founded May 24, 1819, and incorporated on November 15 under the name "FirstCongregational Church in the City of New York" (later "Unitarian Church of All Souls"), although there had been between three and five congregational churches in the city before that.[5]: 369 On January 20, 1821, the congregation dedicated a newly built church onChambers Street, west ofChurch Street.[5][4]: 12,B60
By 1825, the church had become crowded, and many of the pew holders lived aboveCanal Street. On March 19, a meeting was held to unite locals in building a church there for Unitarian worship, and the Second Congregational Unitarian Society was formed. The group built a church on the northwest corner ofPrince andMercer Streets, opening on December 7, 1826.William Ellery Channing preached a sermon[6] andWilliam Cullen Bryant, a member of the congregation, wrote a hymn for the occasion. Designed by Josiah R. Brady, the edifice was one of the earliestGreek Revival buildings in New York.[5][3][4]: 48,E86
Orville Dewey became pastor in 1835, a position he held until 1848. During his tenure, the church building was completely destroyed by fire on November 26, 1837. The congregation took temporary quarters until May 2, 1839, when their new church, which they calledChurch of the Messiah, opened for worship at 728–30Broadway, oppositeWaverly Place.[7][5][8]
In January 1865, that church was sold to department store magnateA. T. Stewart and converted into a theater, which subsequently operated under a series of names, includingGlobe Theatre, and ending withNew Theatre Comique. It burned down in 1884.[9][5][4]: 48
The congregation's third church, located on 34th Street at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue (nowPark Avenue), was inaugurated in 1867. It was designed inVictorian Romanesque style byCarl Pfeiffer.[4]: 48
In 1906, the church calledJohn Haynes Holmes as its minister.[3] At 27 years old, Holmes was installed in 1907, beginning a tenure that would profoundly shape the church's identity and mission. Under his leadership, the church increased social activism and racial integration.
In 1909, Holmes accepted an invitation fromW. E. B. Du Bois to join the founding circle of theNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The following year, the church welcomed its first Black congregant, Horace Dudley, whom Holmes invited to become an usher. On May 21, 1909, funeral services were held for railroad magnateHenry Huttleston Rogers.[10]
In 1919, the congregation renamed itself the Community Church of New York amid reforms led by Holmes. These included removing pew ownership, granting the minister freedom of the pulpit, leaving the Unitarian denomination, and joining the Community Church movement. The church also declared itself pacifist, opposing war and violence. Holmes explained:
I have left Unitarianism, cut myself off from all denominational connections of every kind, that I may preach a universal, humanistic religion which knows no bounds of any kind, not even Christianity. We have … placed the support of the church on the … basis of free voluntary subscriptions. We have rewritten our covenant, eliminating every last vestige of theology, thus relegating all matters of belief to private individual opinion. … [Any person] is welcome to our church, whether he be rich or poor, black or white, Christian, Jew, Hindu, or Parsee.[1]
A new building on 35th Street was constructed in the late 1940s and dedicated in 1948, envisioned as a permanent home for the Community Church of New York. The dedication ceremony was attended by numerous dignitaries, includingJawaharlal Nehru, Governor Dewey, andRabbiStephen Samuel Wise.
In 1949, John Haynes Holmes officially retired, succeeded by Donald Szantho Harrington as senior minister. The church continued its commitment to social justice, with dozens of congregants participating in theMarch on Washington and Harrington stepping forward as a prominent activist in favor of civil rights and equality for African Americans. In 1960, the church hosted a debate betweenMalcolm X andBayard Rustin, showcasing the two civil rights leaders’ differing visions for the path to equality and justice between Black and white people in the United States. In 1965, Harrington, along with other liberal religious leaders, spent 17 days in Alabama supporting the Selma marchers.
The church maintained its progressive stance throughout the latter half of the 20th century, supporting causes such as the anti-apartheid movement and LGBTQ+ rights. In the 1970s, theAmerican Committee on Africa was formed and hosted with the support of the church, which served as a home base for the organization until the release of leaderNelson Mandela from South African prison. In 1990, Nelson Mandela spoke at the church shortly after his release, thanking American anti-apartheid activists for their support.
In 1982, Donald Harrington stood down as senior minister, and the congregation called his successor, Bruce Southworth. Throughout the 1980s, the church and its leadership continued their dedication to fighting against apartheid in South Africa. Southworth went on to serve as an election monitor in Soweto, South Africa in 1994.
The church was recognized as an LGBT Welcoming Congregation by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1997, and witnessed its first same-sex commitment ceremony in 1998. In 2019, congregation called its first woman to the position of senior minister, Peggy Clarke.
ROGERS - On Wednesday, May 19 ... Funeral services at the Church of the Messiah, 84th St. and Park Av, on Friday the 21st
Media related toChurch of the Messiah (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons
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