Saint Thomas Church (New York City)
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- This article discusses the St. Thomas Church located on 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in New York City. For other churches with the same name, please see Saint Thomas.
| Saint Thomas Church | |
|---|---|
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| Denomination | Episcopalian (Anglican) |
| Located | 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue New York City |
| Founded | 1823 |
| Rector | The Rev. Andrew C. Mead, OBE, DD |
| Diocese | Episcopal Diocese of New York |
| Website | http://www.saintthomaschurch.org |
Saint Thomas Church (known also as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue) is an Episcopalian (or Anglican) church within the Episcopal Diocese of New York and the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Located at the corner of Fifty-third Street and Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, St. Thomas Church was incorporated on 9 January 1824. The current structure, completed in 1913, is the fourth church built to house this congregation and was designed by the architects Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the French High Gothic style.
The church is home to the Saint Thomas Choir a choral ensemble comprised of men and boys which performs music of the Anglican tradition at worship services and offers a full concert series during the course of the year. The boys of the St. Thomas Choir (as the men are professional singers) are enrolled at the Saint Thomas Choir School, the only church-affiliated residential choir school in the United States, and one of only four such schools remaining in the world.
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[edit] History
[edit] Four buildings, two locations
On 12 October 1823, members of three Episcopalian parishes in Lower Manhattan, including notably William Backhouse Astor (1792–1875), a wealthy Manhattan landowner, Charles King (1789–1867), later president of Columbia University, and jurist William Beach-Lawrence, combined forces to organize a new episcopal church in New York.[1]. Saint Thomas Church was incorporated on 9 January 1824.[2] With the cornerstone laid in July 1824 at the corner of Broadway and Houston Street, the first church edifice opened in 1826 and was described as the "the best specimen of Gothic in the city." [3] The location was the northern extent of developed settlement in Manhattan during the early 19th Century. It was designed in a Gothic Revival style by architect Joseph R. Brady (1760-1832) and the Reverend John McVickar (1787–1868), professor of moral philosophy at Columbia College (now Columbia University).[4] Though enlarged and remodeled in 1844 to accommodate a growing congregation, this structure was destroyed by fire on 2 March 1851. The church immediately rebuilt at this location, opening in 1852.[4]
The character of the neighborhood at the corner of Broadway and Houston, known as Greenwich Village had "degenerated into anchorage for cheap dance halls and 'concert salloons'" and led to the congregation seeking to relocate to its current location.[5] The parish remained at this location until 1870, while a new church was built (from 1865–1870) at the present location on the corner of Fifty-Third Street and Fifth Avenue based upon a design by Richard Upjohn (1802–1878) and his son Richard Michell Upjohn (1828-1903).[6][4] This third structure, at the time located in a neighborhood dominated by the mansions of Manhattan's upper class, featured a prominent 260-foot high tower and a bas-relief reredos by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) and murals by John LaFarge (1835–1910).[7][4] It was also noted as the scene of many high society) weddings and funerals, including that of Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877–1964) to Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough (1871–1934), the aunt and uncle of Winston Churchill (1874–1965).[8] This structure was destroyed by fire in 1905, leaving only its trademark tower remaining.[4]
The fourth and current church, designed in 1906, was built from 1911 to 1913 under a a design by Ralph Adams Cram (1863–1942) and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue (1869–1924) of the architectural firm of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, and featuring an elaborate reredos designed by Goodhue and sculptor Lee Lawrie (1877–1963). It was consecrated on 25 April 1916.[7] The design by Cram and Goodhue won an architectural competition to build the new Saint Thomas Church, winning over entries by George Browne Post (1837-1913) and Robert W. Gibson.[9]
Cram and Goodhue are also noted for having designed Saint Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue and East 50th Street, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue and West 110th Street, the chapel and a large portion of the campus at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, the Princeton University Chapel at Princeton University and the Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.
[edit] September 11th ministry
In the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, Saint Thomas Church reached out to the British community in recognition of its Anglican heritage. This culminated in an interfaith service held at the church on 20 September 2001. The service was addressed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and broadcast live in its entirety throughout the United Kingdom. On 28 October 2002, the rector of Saint Thomas Church, the Reverend Andrew C. Mead, was made an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The honor was conferred at a ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington, DC.[10]
[edit] Rectors of Saint Thomas Church
| Rector | Years as Rector | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cornelius Roosevelt Duffie | 1824–18?? |
| 2. | ? | ????–1831 |
| 3. | Francis Lister Hawks | 1831–1843 |
| 4. | ? | 1843–1857 |
| 5. | William Ferdinand Morgan | 1857–1888 |
| 6. | ? | 1888–???? |
| 7. | John Wesley Brown | ????–1901 |
| 8. | Ernest Milmore Stires | 1901–1925 |
| 9. | Roelif Hasbrouck Brooks | 1926–1954 |
| 10. | Frederick Myers Morris | 1954–1972 |
| 11. | John Gerald Barton Andrew | 1972–1996 |
| 12. | Andrew Craig Mead | 1996–present |
[edit] Architecture
The present church, a designated New York landmark, was built from 1911 to 1913, designed by a partnership of Ralph Adams Cram, who also designed the Princeton University chapel, and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, who designed nearby St. Bartholomew's church. Lee Lawrie designed the many sculptures and decorations, most notably the 60 figures of the magnificent reredos, which is 80 feet high. First designs date from 1906, the church opened for services in 1913. Its magnificence is the happy result of a dramatic, impulsive act of compassion: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake had so shocked the rector, Ernest Stires, that he rushed the accumulated balance in his parish's building fund to aid the stricken city. Throughout New York and beyond, an impressed public responded in kind to his generosity with unsolicited gifts that more than replenished the fund.
This masterpiece of a city church, with bold massing and a strong profile, has plain ashlar limestone exterior surfaces and sandstone interior surfaces in French High Gothic style, embellished with dense French Flamboyant Gothic detail in the window tracery, in the small arches of the triforium, and in the rich stonework of the reredos, where Bertrand Goodhue's original genius in decoration, and sculpture designed, by Lee Lawrie, are inspired by the altar screen at Winchester Cathedral in England.
St. Thomas church is characterized by a high main arcade and an open triforium, and clerestory. Making the most of a restricted rectangular urban corner site with no space for transepts, St. Thomas has the scale of a large parish church (which it is), and, except for its foreshortened length, the proportions of major European and English cathedrals, with nave vaults 95 feet high.
The church, like New York's Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the largest Gothic church in the world, whose nave and west facade were designed by Cram, is built of stone on stone, without any steel reinforcing. The ribs of the vault are load-bearing structure. Cram's approach to a structurally authentic and a scholarly, but not imitative Gothic style, emphasized originality through logical development of the historical Gothic styles, tempered by creative scholarship. In a letter of 1925 Cram said that he considered a rigorous modern Gothic to be "a logical continuation of the great Christian culture of the past, but also a vital contribution to modern life."
Cram excelled at planning buildings and at the general massing of forms, while Goodhue had an inventive eye for appropriate decorative detail. Often each worked on separate buildings, depending on the advice and approval of the other. Sometimes they worked together on major projects, as at St. Thomas, their final collaboration.
[edit] Music at Saint Thomas Church
[edit] Choir of Men and Boys
Music has long been an important component of worship and liturgy at St. Thomas Church. The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys is currently directed by John Scott, the organist and master of choristers. It follows in the Anglican tradition of the all-male choral ensemble. The choir's primary function is to provide music for five services each week, as well as an annual concert series sponsored by the Church. In addition, the choir has toured throughout the United States and Europe, with performances at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, King’s College, Cambridge and the Aldeburgh Festival. In 2004, the choir toured Italy and received a Papal audience at the Vatican. In 2005, the choir toured in the southern United States, with a benefit concert in New Orleans. Upon returning to New York, they performed in Saint Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall. Other appearances have included performances at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and alongside artists such as Jessye Norman and Placido Domingo. In addition, the choir gave the world-premiere performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem, which was subsequently televised internationally by the BBC. The choir was also featured in a recording of Carly Simon's "Let the River Run".
In 2007, there are three tours are planned for Mexico City, Los Angeles, Fort Worth, and other domestic cities, as well as a tour to the United Kingdom in early summer.
The boy choristers reside at the Saint Thomas Choir School, the only church-affiliated boarding choir school in the United States.
[edit] Saint Thomas Choir School
[edit] Organs
The Great Organ of Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue, was originally built by the Ernest M. Skinner Company of Boston as their Opus 205 in 1913. The Saint Thomas organ was reported to be one of Mr. Skinner's favorite organs; he would make frequent visits to the church since the Skinner Company Fifth Avenue Studio was only a block away. Skinner would bring visiting organists and other musicians to play and hear this showpiece organ. In 1956 the organ was extensively revised and rebuilt by the Aeolian-Skinner Company as Opus 205-A under the direction of G. Donald Harrison. Subsequent revisions were completed in 1969 by Gilbert F. Adams, and in the early 1980s by Mann & Trupiano. Today, except for the Trompette en Chamade, which is located under the rose window over the Fifth Avenue entrance, the entire instrument is in the chancel, with the Swell and Grand Choeur in the main case at the right on the north wall and the exposed Great to the left, with Pedal reeds behind. The Vorwerk and Pedal upperwork are exposed on the south wall, in front of the Positif and large Pedal flues.
The Loening-Hancock gallery organ was built by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders to honor Dr. Gerre Hancock's 25 years of service to St. Thomas Church. Its classical construction reflects contemporary interest in organs of distinct national character and historical precepts of construction. The case is fumed white oak with pipe shades gilded in 23-karat gold. The cedar case doors, the façade design with its embossed pipes and inverted fields, and the ornamental kiosks are distinctly 16th-century Dutch, a style of organbuilding which would have been familiar to the original settlers of New Amsterdam. The key action is directly suspended and made of wood. The stop action is mechanical. The two manual divisions each display the fundamental Principal stop in the façade: the Hauptwerk 8' Principal and the Oberwerk 4' Principal. The 16' stops in the pedal are located behind the organ. There are places prepared for the addition of three manual stops in addition to space available for a third manual division. The wind system has three large wedge bellows which can be operated by foot: a wind stabilizer is available to steady the wind for heavy-texture pieces. The tuning is in Kellner temperament.
The Loening-Hancock Organ was dedicated on May 21, 1996 with a concert featuring Frederick Swann, organist, in solo organ works, and as soloist in concertos by Handel and Haydn, assisted by players from the Orchestra of St. Luke's and conducted by Gerre Hancock.
[edit] Organists
- T. Tertius Noble, 1913-1943
- T. Frederick Candlyn, 1943-1954
- William Self, 1954-1971
- Gerre Hancock, 1971-2004
- John Scott, 2004-present
[edit] Concerts
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Notes and Citations
- ^ Painting the Town -- Museum of the City of New York, accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ About the Church at http://www.sainthomaschurch.org, accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ Painting the Town -- Museum of the City of New York, quoting Koke, Richard. American Landscape and Genre Paintings in the New-York Historical Society (New York: New-York Historical Society; Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982), 114.
- ^ a b c d e St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue - Great Organ
- ^ Painting the Town -- Museum of the City of New York quoting Miller, Terry. Greenwich Village and How It Got That Way (New York: Crown Publishers, 1990), 95-96, accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ Virtual American Biographies: Richard Upjohn accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ a b Book Review by David Middleton of J. Robert Wright's Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue(2001) in the Anglican Theological Review (Winter 2003), accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ NPR: "'Consuelo and Alva': An Early Story of Celebrity", accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ The Midtown Book: Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue at cityreview.com, accessed 08 November 2006.
- ^ "Four Americans receive Honorary British awards" (Press Release 28 October 2002)--Google Cache of British Embassy website--accessed 08 November 2006.
[edit] Books and printed resources
- Wright, J. Robert. Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; New York: Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, 2001). ISBN
