St. Luke's Lutheran Church (New York City)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church
Facade elevation and interior view of nave toward sanctuary (photographed in February 2011)
Location: 208 W. 46th St., New York City, New York
Area: less than one acre
Built: 1922[1]-1923 (for church);[2]
1922 (for parish house)[3]
Architect: Edward L. Tilton[1] of Tilton & Githens;[2]
Francis Xavier Zettler (for 1923 facade);[2]
"Keally" of 141 East 45th Street (for 1922 parish house)[3]
Architectural style: Neo-Perpendicular with Art Moderne detailing (Late Gothic Revival)
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 07000483[1]
Added to NRHP: June 01, 2007

St. Luke's Lutheran Church, also known as The German Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Saint Luke's and St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, is a historic Lutheran church located on "restaurant row" at 208 West 46th Street near Times Square, in Hell's Kitchen / Clinton, Manhattan, New York City, New York.

Contents

History

St. Luke's was founded as a Dutch Reformed congregation in 1850, first meeting in rented rooms on the third floor of a building on 35th Street and 9th Avenue. It reorganized as a Lutheran congregation in 1853.[4]

The church moved several times, acquiring its first owned building, a former Baptist church on 43rd Street, in 1863. It moved in 1875 to 233 West 42nd Street, into the former Forty-second Street Presbyterian Church.[2] Finally, the congregation acquired property at West 46th Street to build its current church. The cornerstone was laid in October 1922 and the church dedicated in September 1923.[4]

An independent congregation without synodic affiliation since 1880, St. Luke's joined the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in 1987.

Architecture

The church was built 1922 to designs of Edward L. Tilton[1] of Tilton & Githens.[2] "The nave facade is virtually all window, designed by Francis Xavier Zettler."[2] The building was completed in 1923.[2] The architecture has been described as happy a marriage between Gothic and Deco. A four-storey parish house at 308-316 West 46th Street was built 1922 to designs by an architect named "Keally" of 141 East 45th Street at cost of $150,000.[3] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g David W. Dunlap, From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004.) p. 223.
  3. ^ a b c Office for Metropolitan History, "Manhattan NB Database 1900-1986," (Accessed 25 Dec 2010).
  4. ^ a b "A Brief History of Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church", StLukesNYC.org, http://www.stlukesnyc.org/History.html, retrieved 2010-02-16 

External link