Church of St. Paul the Apostle, 8 Columbus Avenue, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.
No opposition to Pastor’s request to alter the footprint of the newly landmarked Catholic Church. On July 23, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to modify the recently landmarked Church of St. Paul the Apostle site to exclude a convent, at 120 West 60th Street, from the designation at the request of the church leadership. The five-story convent building was built in 1949, and according to the designation report, “does not contribute to the architectural or historical character of the church.” (Read CityLand’s past coverage here.)
The site modification required a hearing, which did not garner any opposition to modification. Manhattan Community Board 7 representative Mark Diller testified that modifying the designation “does no violence” to the landmark, while the Historic Districts Council’s Nadezhda Williams noted that the church had already sold its air rights, and that “landmarking the convent would not contribute towards the preservation of the church.”
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Church of St. Paul the Apostle, 8 Columbus Avenue, Manhattan. Image Credit: LPC.
See below for update.
Medieval Revival-style Catholic Church served as home for the Paulist Fathers. On June 11, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, at 8 Columbus Avenue in Manhattan. The church, at the corner of 60th Street, was primarily constructed during the period between 1875 and 1885. The upper parts of the church’s two imposing towers were completed in 1900, and a decorative bas-relief mural was installed over the church’s entrance in 1959. Landmarks initially considered the church for designation in 1966, but no action was taken at the time.
The church was commissioned by the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle, known commonly as the Paulist Fathers. The order was established in 1858, with the goal of serving as missionaries to Protestant Americans. The group’s initial Upper West Side parish soon proved inadequate, and a new church was commissioned. Architect Jeremiah O’Rourke, based in New Jersey, conceived the design for the church but was replaced on the project by Paulist priest George Deshon in the early 1880s. The building is faced in granite, some of it salvaged from other Manhattan structures.
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