Church of St. Vincent Ferrer (New York)

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The Roman Catholic Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York, NY has been called "one of New York's greatest architectural adornments".^[1]. Completed in 1918, the church at the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 65th Street was built by the Dominicans; the attached priory serves as the headquarters of the Eastern United States Province of the order.

The church is under the patronage of Saint Vincent Ferrer, a Dominican preacher. Both and the Church and Priory are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Coordinates: 40°45′59″N 73°57′53″W / 40.766239, -73.964738

1 History
2 Notes
3 External links
4 Further reading

[edit] History

In the 1860s, a Dominican priest from France, Father Thomas Martin, was sent to the Diocese of New York and took up residence in a brownstone on Lexington Avenue and 62nd Street. Father Martin, along with some other Dominican fathers began to construct a chapel on the northeast corner of 65th Street. The first Mass was offered in this chapel on July 2, 1867.

By 1869 the construction was expanded and on December 12, a second church was dedicated. This church would serve the congregation until 1914, when it was demolished in order to begin construction of a new one, to designs of Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Goodhue considered St. Vincent Ferrer his best Gothic work; he designed the Gothic Revival church in the style of fourteenth century French Gothic, with echoes of Romanesque. On October 22, 1916 the construction of the present incarnation of St. Vincent was completed, at a cost of a million and a half dollars. It was dedicated on May 5, 1918, when over 50,000 people attended.

The exterior of the Church is constructed of random ashlar and trimmed with dressed limestone, and the church's roof is covered in copper. The church as originally planned was to have a fifteen-story fleche, which, as construction progressed, became unfeasible. An ancient canal that passed under the site, as well as the construction of subway tunnels down Lexington Avenue made it impossible to lay a sufficient foundation.

The front entrance of the Church includes a stone sculpture of the Crucifixion by Lee Lawrie. This was an innovation, as up until this point, no church had incorporated a crucifix on its exterior. The interior of the Church features large stained glass windows designed by Charles Connick, the designer of the rose window at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It also includes a sculpture by Lee Lawrie of Our Lady of Fatima, by Father Thomas McGlynn, following the prototype at the basilica at Fatima. There are two relics of St. Vincent Ferrer in the church and the only example of a hanging pyx that is not in a museum.

The church holds two Schantz pipe organs, a two manual instrument in the choir and a four manual organ in the west gallery. Both are playable from a large console in the choir.

The building is a federal landmark, and was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967.