New York City Structures, Our Lady of Lourdes Church

Our Lady of Lourdes Church
472 West 142nd Street
Year built: 1902–1904
Architect/builder: O' Reilly Brothers

NEW YORK—Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in the Hamilton Heights Historic District of Harlem is a work of architectural recycling that was pieced together from three different structures, only one of which was originally a church.

The neo-Gothic pastiche was brought together by the church’s first pastor as he salvaged the remains of several historic structures that were in the process of being demolished.

The parish was established in 1901 to serve the Irish and German residents of the area at that time, and the church’s first pastor worked with the O' Reilly Brothers construction firm to piece together a remarkable structure that serves the community to this day.

The facade of the building was salvaged from the National Academy of Design building that was on East 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South), designed by architect Peter B. Wright.

The National Academy of Design, now known as the National Academy Museum & School, is currently located on Fifth Avenue. On its website, a photo of the original structure dated, 1865, shows much of Wright’s original facade made the transition to Harlem, with a few alterations.

A second row of lancet windows was added and the building appears to have gained additional height, allowing for a steeper gable above the main entrance. This was perhaps an ecclesiastical decision, as the tall peak of the current gable now points directly to a simple cross that was added to the top of the building. Double columns were added to the left and right of the main entrance, along with a statue of Mary above the bronze doors that are heavily decorated in trefoils and the church’s monogram.

The trefoil motif may have been carried on from the metal cornice that spans the top of the facade and along the top of the east face as well.

The exterior wall of the north side of the church, visible only from an alley between the church and its grade school on West 143rd Street, was removed from St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue (designed by James Renwick) when the cathedral added the Lady Chapel in 1901–1906. A tall Gothic center window is flanked by two narrow windows; all have tracing and rosette windows within them and are divided by Gothic buttresses.

The two elaborately carved marble pedestals that flank the steps to the front doors came from dry goods millionaire A. T. Stewart’s mansion that was on Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. Stewart’s elaborate mansion was demolished in 1901, only 30 years after being built.