St. Paul the Apostle Church (Manhattan) Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Saint Paul the Apostle Church
October 2014
Saint Paul the Apostle Church Location in New York City
40°46′11″N 73°59′7″W / 40.76972°N 73.98528°W / 40.76972; -73.98528
Location	8-10 Columbus Avenue Manhattan, New York City), New York
Country	United States
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Religious order	Paulist Fathers
History
Status	Parish church Mother church of the Paulist Fathers
Founded	1858 (parish) 1859 (original church & rectory) 1876 (current church)
Dedicated	January 25, 1885
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	NRHP< NYC Landmark
Years built	1876–1884
Administration
Archdiocese	New York

The Church of St. Paul the Apostle is a Catholic church located in New York City, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It's a very important church because it's the main church for the Paulist Fathers. They were the first group of Catholic priests started in the United States.

History of the Church Building
- Building the New Church
- Art and Design Inside
The Church Community
- Schools and Programs
The Möller Pipe Organ
See also

History of the Church Building

This church community, called a parish, started in 1858. Their first church was a simple brick building. It was built on part of the land where the current church stands. But soon, the church community grew too big for it.

Building the New Church

A new, larger church was built between 1876 and 1884. It was designed in a style called Late Victorian Gothic Revival. The first architect was Jeremiah O'Rourke. Six years into the building process, O'Rourke passed away. A Paulist priest named George Deshon then took over. He was a military engineer trained at West Point. He likely made the design a bit simpler.

Isaac Hecker, who founded the Paulist Fathers, might have also helped with the design. He may have used the 13th-century Cathedral of Santa Croce, Florence as an example. The church was built using gray granite stones from Tarrytown. These stones were recycled from the Croton Aqueduct. Stones from other buildings in Manhattan were also used. Even the granite for the front steps came from an old theater.

The new church building was officially opened on January 25, 1885. However, it wasn't fully finished yet. The towers, which are 114 feet (35 meters) tall, still needed to reach their final height. Also, much of the beautiful art inside still needed to be added.

Art and Design Inside

The Church of St. Paul the Apostle is famous for its amazing religious art. Many parts of the inside were designed between 1887 and 1890 by Stanford White. There are also many large, decorated side chapels. Later, John LaFarge added beautiful stained glass windows.

Other famous artists who worked on the church include Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederick MacMonnies. Bertram Goodhue created the detailed floor mosaics. White and Goodhue also gave advice on other design parts. A sculpture called Angel of the Resurrection by Lumen Martin Winter is on top of Isaac Hecker's tomb. Hecker's tomb is in the front corner of the main part of the church. Other Paulist Fathers are buried in a special room below the church.

A newspaper, the New York Daily Tribune, once described the church's look. They said it was "vast, plain, fortress-like in its solidity." They also said it was "the most August, unworldly interior of this continent." This means it felt very grand and spiritual inside.

The church was recognized as an important historical place in 1991. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 2013, it was also named a New York City Landmark. A big project to fix up and restore the church began around 2000. This work was still happening in 2013.

The Church Community

In 1858, the Paulist Fathers first moved into a small house with a chapel. This was located at 14 West 60th Street. The main building for the Paulist Fathers is next to the church on West 59th Street. This building was built in the 1930s.

The church community has changed along with the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. In 1903, an elevated train track ran right in front of the church. From 1925 to 1937, the Paulists even had their own radio station, WLWL.

Schools and Programs

The church opened an elementary school in 1886. A high school section was added in 1922. Later, money problems caused the Archdiocese of New York to close the school. St. Paul's then started pre-school centers. These were funded by Project Head Start, which helped provide free lunches and medical care for students. The last school connected to the parish closed in 1974.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the parish faced financial difficulties. At one point in 1973, they even thought about tearing down the church to build an apartment building. In the mid-1980s, the church sold part of its land. They were able to build a new Parish Center by selling their "air rights." This allowed a tall apartment tower to be built close to the church.

Today, the church holds five Masses every Sunday. It has a large community of young professionals. There is also a Spanish-speaking community. "Apostolist" is the program for young adults. The Young Adult Choir sings at the Sunday 5 p.m. Mass. The Youth Ministry also helps run a Food Bank Pantry. "Out at St Paul (OSP)" is a ministry for the LGBTQ+ community. The "Mustard Seed Guild" helps orphanages in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic. The parish also has an active group of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul.

St. Paul's also has a bookstore and gift shop inside the church. It serves as the parish church for Catholic students at nearby Fordham University, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the Juilliard School.

The large basement of the church has been used for many things. It was a cafeteria for the school and a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. It has also been a soup kitchen, a practice space for The Rockettes, and even a place for boxing matches. From 1996 to 2003, it hosted the Big Apple Comic Convention several times a year.

The Möller Pipe Organ

The M.P. Möller Pipe Organ Company's Opus 9987, built in 1965.

The organ currently in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle is a M.P. Möller Pipe Organ. It's called Opus 9987 and was built in 1965. This huge instrument has 4,965 pipes! It has 4 keyboards, 83 ranks (sets of pipes), and 78 stops (controls for different sounds). Twelve of these stops use pipes from the church's older organ, which was built in 1925.

The organ's sound comes from two different parts of the church. This makes it sound like there are two organs playing at once. The main organ is at the front of the church, with large pipe towers around the altar. The nave organ is on the south wall of the main church area. Both organs can be played at the same time from one special console. This console was built in 2000 and can be moved around.

A famous organist named Virgil Fox recorded The Christmas Album on this Möller Organ in 1965. By 2020, the Möller organ needed to be restored. In February 2021, the church got another historic organ. This one was from the Roosevelt Organ Works and had been in the former All Saints Church.

St. Paul the Apostle Church (Manhattan) facts for kids

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