Riverside Church

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Riverside Church as seen from West 121st Street

Riverside Church is an interdenominational (American Baptist and United Church of Christ) church. The church, situated between Riverside Drive and Claremont Avenue and between 120th Street and 122nd Street, is on the border of the Morningside Heights and Harlem neighborhoods on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City, famous not only for its elaborate, gothic style architecture, but also as a center for the promotion of leftist and progressive causes.

1 History
2 Architecture
3 Artwork
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Christian churches in New York City and their members were in debate over the future of their faith. Some preached a fundamentalist interpretation, made famous previously by thinkers such as William Jennings Bryan, who believed in a strict interpretation and enforcement of the Bible. Others, however, disagreed, and believed that for religion to succeed it must take a more modern approach and become actively involved in the world, following the example of Jesus as social reformer. In 1922, the latter group, with the major financing and support of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and modernist Baptist pastor Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, decided to create a church dedicated to these values in New York City.

This church was to be built around three main principles advocated by Rockefeller and Dr. Fosdick: a church in an interdenominational setting; a large church in a neighborhood important to the city; and a church open to all who have faith in Christ. Based on these requirements, land was purchased by Rockefeller, Jr. and construction began in December 1927 and ended about six years later in 1933.

Modeled after a French church (see Architecture below), the Gothic Riverside Church remains not only an important landmark for tourists, but also an important center for lively political discussion. Past speakers at the pulpit have included the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., speaking on his objection to the Vietnam War, Nelson Mandela on his first visit to the United States after being released from prison, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan after September 11, 2001, and Fidel Castro during one of his rare visits to the country in 1999. Rev. James Alexander Forbes, Jr. has been the senior pastor since 1989. He has been heralded by Newsweek magazine as one of the twelve most effective English-language preachers, and called one of the best black pastors by Ebony magazine. Rev. Forbes was preceded at Riverside by the famous Rev. William Sloane Coffin, who was senior pastor from 1977 to 1987.

[edit] Architecture

Riverside Church (left), as seen from the campus of Columbia University.

The Church was designed by the firm of Allen, Pelton and Collens. Henry C. Pelton and Charles Collens were commissioned by Rockefeller to travel across Spain and France to find inspiration for their project. They took for their model of the nave the 13th Century Gothic Cathedral of Chartres, France, and for the massive single belltower that dwarfs the rest of the church, one of the towers at Laon, but here with a base 100 feet square, and built on a steel frame the equivalent of a 22-storey building (392 feet)^[1]. Inlaid on the floor is a labyrinth similar to those at Chartres and elsewhere. The church was begun in 1926 and, with delays caused by a spectacular fire in the wooden scaffolding, finished— with its first service at the main altar— October 5, 1930.

The exterior buttressing is purely decorative, for the structure is supported on its steel frame, and their weight would not be sufficient to counter the weight of the vault. The writers of the 'WPA Guide to New York City (1939) noted "Their smallness has the effect of making the building itself seem smaller than it is, so that its scale is scarcely impressive, even when seen at close range."

The south-facing main entrance, in the base of the tower, is based on the Porte Royale of Chartres, with the seated figure of Christ in the tympanum, flanked by the symbols of the Evangelists. The figures sculpted in the concentric arches of the doorway represent leading personalities of religion and philosophy, joined by great scientists.

The tower houses a carillon that John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated in memory of his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, which was installed from 1925 with additional bells later. Its final complement of 74 bronze bells (the largest carillon of bells in the world) include the 20-ton bourdon, the largest cast and tuned bell in existence.

The church was conceived as a complex social services center from the outset, with meeting rooms and classrooms, a daycare center, a kindergarten, library, auditorium and gym.

[edit] Artwork

In the Riverside Church hang three paintings by Heinrich Hofmann which were purchased by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.: Christ in the Temple (1871), Christ and the Young Rich Man (1889), and Christ in Gethsemane (1890).