| Church of the Transfiguration | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Church of the Transfiguration | |
| Location | 1East 29th Street Manhattan,New York City |
| Denomination | Episcopal |
| Churchmanship | Anglo-Catholic |
| Website | www |
| Administration | |
| Province | Atlantic |
| Diocese | New York |
| Deanery | Manhattan Midtown |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | John David van Dooren |
| Priest(s) | Patrick S. Cheng Warren C. Platt |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Claudia Dumschat |
| Verger | Adam Constantine |
| Parish administrator | Grace Kobryn |
Church of the Transfiguration and Rectory | |
  Location in Manhattan | |
| Coordinates | 40°44′43″N73°59′10″W / 40.74526°N 73.98598°W /40.74526; -73.98598 |
| Built | 1849 |
| Architect | lych-gate only: Frederick Clarke Withers all other structures: unknown |
| Architectural style | Gothic Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 73001216[1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1973 |
| Designated NYCL | May 25, 1967 |
TheChurch of the Transfiguration, also known as theLittle Church Around the Corner, is anEpiscopal parish church located at 1East 29th Street, betweenMadison andFifth Avenues in theNoMad neighborhood ofManhattan,New York City. The congregation was founded in 1848 byGeorge Hendric Houghton and worshiped in a home at 48 East 29th Street until the church was built and consecrated in 1849.
The church was designed in the early EnglishNeo-Gothic style; the architect has not been identified.[2] The sanctuary is set back from the street behind a garden which creates a facsimile of theEnglish countryside and which has long been an oasis for New Yorkers, who relax in the garden, pray in the chapel, or enjoy free weekday concerts in the main church. The complex has grown somewhat haphazardly over the years, and for this reason it is sometimes called the "Holy Cucumber Vine".[3] The sanctuary had a guildhall, transepts, and a tower added to it in 1852, and thelych-gate, designed byFrederick Clarke Withers, was built in 1896. Chapels were added in 1906 (lady chapel) and 1908 (mortuary chapel). TheEdwin Booth memorial stained glass window, given byThe Players in 1898, is byJohn LaFarge.[4] Other stained glass windows are byKarl Stecher.[5][6]
In 1967, the church was designated aNew York City landmark,[2] and it was listed on theNational Register of Historic Places in 1973.[1][7]
In 1863, during theCivil WarDraft Riots, Houghton gave sanctuary toAfrican Americans who were under attack, filling up the church's sanctuary, schoolroom, library and vestry. When rioters showed up at the church, Houghton is reported to have turned them away and dispersed them by saying, "You white devils, you! Do you know nothing of the spirit of Christ?"[3] Over the three days of rioting, Houghton fed and prayed with those taking refuge in the church, assisted byGeorge Franklin Seymour, Bishop of Springfield.[8]
The church became a popular destination for fashionable society in New York'sGilded Age.Caroline Schermerhorn Astor andWilliam Backhouse Astor Jr. were communicants, walking to services from their mansion at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, and the wedding ofMarion Graves Anthon Fish andStuyvesant Fish was held in the church in 1876.[9] Names in the registers of the church included leading names of the day, including Rhinelander, Gould, Delafield, Vanderbilt, Zabriskie, Schuyler, and Roosevelt; William and Caroline Astor's daughters Helen and Emily were in the confirmation class of 1869.[9]
Actors were among the social outcasts whom Houghton befriended. In 1870,William T. Sabine, the rector of the nearby Church of the Atonement, which is no longer extant, refused to conduct funeral services for an actor namedGeorge Holland, suggesting, "I believe there is a little church around the corner where they do that sort of thing."Joseph Jefferson, a fellow actor who was trying to arrange Holland's burial, exclaimed, "If that be so, God bless the little church around the corner!" and the church began a longstanding association with the theater.[3]
The church also attracted literary figures in the city. The authorStephen Vincent Benét attended the church with his family.P. G. Wodehouse, when living inGreenwich Village as a young writer of novels and lyrics for musicals, married his wife Ethel at the Little Church in September 1914. Subsequently, Wodehouse would set most of his fictionalized weddings at the church; and the hit musicalSally that he wrote withJerome Kern andGuy Bolton ended with the company singing, in tribute to theBohemian congregation: "Dear little, dear little Church 'Round the Corner / Where so many lives have begun, / Where folks without money see nothing that's funny / In two living cheaper than one."[10]
In 1923, the Episcopal Actors' Guild held its first meeting at Transfiguration. Such theatrical greats asBasil Rathbone,Tallulah Bankhead,Peggy Wood,Joan Fontaine,Rex Harrison,Barnard Hughes, andCharlton Heston have served as officers or council members of the guild.[3] The Little Church's association with the theatre continued in the 1970s, when it hosted the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company, which gave starts to actors such asArmand Assante,Tom Hulce, andRhea Perlman.[3]
As well as being a guild officer, SirRex Harrison was memorialized at the church upon his death in 1990.Maggie Smith,Brendan Gill, and Harrison's sons,Carey andNoel, spoke at the service.
The church is known for the long service of its rectors: in the 150 years from its founding to 1998, there were five,[3] including the Rev. Jackson Harvelle Randolph Ray from 1923 to 1963. More recently, the Rt. Rev.Andrew St. John was rector from 2005 to 2016, and the Rev. John David van Dooren has been rector since 2017.[11]
In 2024 the church reported 193 members, average attendance of 112, and $366,027 in plate and pledge income.[12]
The church has long been associated with a program of free music performances. TheAnglican tradition of a men's and boys' choir has been maintained with special music for concerts and summer services provided by a choir of mixed voices. In 1988, the Arnold Schwartz Memorial organ, a newtrackerpipe organ, was built and installed at the church by C. B. Fisk, Inc.[13]
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