St. Marks Church In-The-Bowery | |
 Seen in 2025 | |
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| Location | 131 E. 10th St. (at Second Ave.) Manhattan,New York City |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°43′49″N73°59′14″W / 40.730376°N 73.987121°W /40.730376; -73.987121 |
| Built | 1795;[1] 1799, restored 1975–1978, restored 1978–1984[2] |
| Architect | Ithiel Town, et al. Harold Edelman |
| Architectural style | Georgian;[1]Federal body,Greek Revival steeple |
| Website | stmarksbowery |
| NRHP reference No. | 72000885 |
| NYCL No. | 0229 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | June 19, 1972[1] |
| Designated NYCL | April 19, 1966 |
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery is a parish of theEpiscopal Church at 131East 10th Street (nearStuyvesant Street andSecond Avenue) in theEast Village neighborhood ofManhattan inNew York City. The property has been the site of continuous Christian worship since the mid-17th century, making it New York City's oldest site of continuous religious practice. The structure is the second-oldest church building in Manhattan.[3][4]
In 2020, it reported 103 members, average attendance of 67, and $142,197 in plate and pledge income.
In 1651,Petrus Stuyvesant, Director General of New Netherland, purchased land for a bowery or farm from theDutch West India Company and by 1660 built a family chapel at the present day site of St. Mark's Church. Stuyvesant died in 1672 and was interred in a vault under the chapel.[5][6]
Stuyvesant's great-grandson,Petrus "Peter" Stuyvesant, sold the chapel property to theEpiscopal Church for $1 in 1793,[3] stipulating that a new chapel be erected to serve Bowery Village, the community which had coalesced around the Stuyvesant family chapel.[7] In 1795 the cornerstone of the present day St. Mark's Church was laid, and the fieldstoneGeorgian style church, built by the architect andmasonJohn McComb Jr., was completed and consecrated on May 9, 1799.[5]Alexander Hamilton provided legal aid in incorporating St. Mark's Church as the first Episcopal parish independent ofTrinity Church in New York City. By 1807 the church had as many as two hundred worshipers at its summer services, with 70 during the winter.[7]
In 1828, the church steeple, the design of which is attributed toMartin Euclid Thompson andIthiel Town, inGreek Revival style, was erected. More changes came about beginning in 1835, when John C. Tucker's stone Parish Hall was constructed,[5] and the next year (1836) the church itself was renovated, with the original square pillars being replaced with thinner ones inEgyptian Revival style. In addition, the currentcast- andwrought iron fence was added in 1838; these renovations are credited to Thompson.[5][8] At around the same time, the two-storyfieldstone Sunday School was completed, and the church established the Parish Infant School for poor children.
Later, in 1861, the church commissioned a brick addition to the Parish Hall, which was designed and supervised by architectJames Renwick Jr., and the St. Mark's Hospital Association was organized by members of the congregation. Outside the church, the cast ironportico, was added around 1858; its design is attributed toJames Bogardus, who was an early innovator in cast iron construction.[5]
At the start of the 20th century, leading architectErnest Flagg designed the rectory. Overall, while the 19th century saw St. Mark's Church grow through its many construction projects, the 20th century was marked by community service and cultural expansion.[9]
In 1966, thePoetry Project and The Film Project, which later became theMillennium Film Workshop, were founded. Furthermore, in 1975, theDanspace Project was founded byLarry Fagin; the Community Documentation Workshop under the direction ofArthur Tobier was established; and the Preservation Youth Project expanded to a full-time work training program, which undertook the mission of the preserving St Mark's landmark exterior under the supervision of artisan teachers.[5] On July 27, 1978, a fire nearly destroyed the church. The Citizens to Save St Mark's was founded to raise funds for its reconstruction and the Preservation Youth Project undertook the reconstruction supervised by architectHarold Edelman and craftspeople provided by preservation contractorI. Maas & Sons. TheLandmark Fund emerged from the Citizens to Save St Mark's and continues to exist to help maintain and preserve St. Mark's Church for future generations. The restoration was completed in 1986, with newstained-glass windows designed by Edelman.[2]
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Rector William Guthrie was known to incorporate Native American, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahá'í ceremonies and guest speakers into services.[9][10][11][12]
Today, the rectory houses the Neighborhood Preservation Center,[13] theGreenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and the Historic Districts Council, as well as other preservation and community organizations such as the Poetry Project, the Millennium Film Workshop, and the Danspace Project.[5]
Over the years, several Dutch dignitaries visited the church while they were in the United States. In 1952,Queen Juliana of the Netherlands visited the church and laid a wreath given by her mother,Queen Wilhelmina, at the bust of Petrus Stuyvesant, which had been given to the church by Wilhelmina and the Dutch government in 1915.[5] In 1981 and 1982,Princess Margriet andQueen Beatrix, both of the Netherlands, also visited.[14]
St Mark's has supported an active artistic community since the 19th century.
In 1919 poetKahlil Gibran was appointed a member of the St. Mark's Arts Committee, and the next year, the two prominent Indian statues, "Aspiration" and "Inspiration" by sculptorSolon Borglum, which flank the church entry, were unveiled. Gibran also presented readings of his famous written works,[9] some of which became annual affairs for a while,[15] as well as an exhibition of his drawings.[16]Isadora Duncan danced in the church in 1922, andMartha Graham in 1930. In 1926, poetWilliam Carlos Williams lectured at the St. Mark's Sunday Symposium, which over the years featured such artists asAmy Lowell,Edward Steichen,Houdini,Edna St. Vincent Millay,Ruth St. Denis andCarl Sandburg.
Starting in 1955, the Lower East Side artists' held an annual exhibition during the summer at St. Mark's. It was an inclusive, non-juried group exhibition that featured hundreds of artists from the neighborhood and utilized both the interior spaces and the yard.
Theatre Genesis was founded by directorRalph Cook in 1964 and, in the same year,Sam Shepard had his first two plays,Cowboys andRock Garden produced at the church. In 1969, St. Mark's innovated a fusion ofliturgy andexperimental rock music, theElectric Liturgy given by theMind Garage, which was the first work of its kind to be nationally televised.
St. Mark's hosts modern artistic endeavors, including the Poetry Project,[17] and Danspace Project,[18] which stage events throughout the year. A November 1971 Poetry Project reading byPatti Smith, accompanied byLenny Kaye on guitar, launched their rock and roll careers and marked the founding of thePatti Smith Group.[19]
In addition,Richard Foreman's avant-gardeOntological-Hysteric Theater[20] was also housed there in its own space from 1992 until 2010.[21]
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Both the church's East and West Yards have under them stone burial vaults, in which many prominent New Yorkers were interred. Although it no longer does full body burials, the church still does cremation burials in the church vault under the West Yard.[5]
.....St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie... last Easter, went A. Van Horne Stuyvesant, as the Stuyvesants have always gone, to assure themselves that the grave of their ancestor, Peter Stuyvesant, was in good keeping.
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