The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe | |
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20110204.083.NYC.Midtown.Chelsea.229W14thSt.OurLadyofGuadalupeCh.c.1850.fd.1921.GustaveESteinback.Taken by James Russiello.jpg (Photographed in 2011) |
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General information | |
Architectural style | Spanish Baroque Baroque Revival |
Town or city | Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, New York |
Country | United States |
Completed | c.1850 (as rowhouse) 1921 (facade as church)[1] |
Design and construction | |
Client | Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York |
Architect | Gustave E. Steinback (1921 facade as church)[1] |
The Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as Nuestra Señora de la Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic parish church under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 229 West 14th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Union Square / Chelsea, section of Manhattan, New York City.
The parish was established in 1902 by the Augustinians of the Assumption as the first Spanish-speaking Catholic parish in New York City, serving working-class Spanish immigrants. At the time, that area of 14th street was considered “Little Spain.”[1][2] The parish was closed in 2003 when it merged with St. Bernard's to create the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe & St. Bernard.
The present (and now closed) church building is a former mid-nineteenth-century brownstone rowhouse. The conversion to a church at or near the founding of the parish created double-height sanctuary. The church also includes a "side chapel, tiny balcony, and clerestory." The monumental facade completed in the Spanish Baroque style or "classically proportioned Spanish Revival façade" was built 1921 to the designs of Gustave Steinback.[1][3] The "transformation which makes Guadalupe extremely rare, if not unique, in the city spanned two decades and involved several notable architects...."[1] The AIA Guide to NYC (Fifth Edition, 2010) called it "an extraordinary brownstone conversion.... Its Iberian ancestry is expressed both in the language of its services and in its Spanish Colonial facade."[4]
The church remained popular with the various Hispanic communities of New York, serving Spaniards, Spanish-Americans, Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. The expansion of the Mexican population, however, overwhelmed the small church necessitating the congregation's removal to nearby St. Bernard's.[3]