The Churches of New York XXXV: The Recycled Church

Our Lady of Lourdes
467 West 142nd Street

West 142nd Street and environs – Hamilton Heights – is a remarkably serene oasis tucked away in upper Manhattan. East of Broadway are quiet tree-lined streets featuring rows of townhouses, circa 1900, displaying a variety of stone facings. It reminds a visitor more of parts of Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope than Manhattan. Here and there are the vestiges of Catholicism – still existent or long since vanished – in upper Manhattan. The very name of Convent Avenue reminds us of the former Manhattanville Convent and school further south in the West 130’s. That institution had fled the growing problems of Harlem as early as the late 1940’s. That’s a story in itself: one of the most prestigious Catholic secondary schools and colleges for girls in New York flees to the supposed refuge of the suburbs, goes secular as early as 1966 and ends up as the undistinguished nondenominational operation that exists in Purchase today.

Our Lady of Lourdes, like St. James, Old St Patrick’s, St. Elizabeth of Hungary or St. Bernard’s is blessed in that it remains embedded in the original streetscape. The church, faced with white stone, takes a leading role in the architecture of West 142nd Street yet complements rather than overpowers its neighbors. It is a handsome rectangular edifice with a series of elaborately carved Gothic arches on the main floor – a touch of Venice on New York. On a second look, though, Our Lady of Lourdes does appear distinctly unusual for a church. There is a very good reason for that – this building was assembled largely from parts of demolished secular buildings!

For in 1900 Fr. Joseph McMahon set out to build a church for the new parish of Our Lady of Lourdes. Now in New York of 1900 and especially on the West Side it was no longer sufficient for a new church building to follow a canonical style (or at least the Victorian idea of such). Rather, in each case something distinctive and original had to be found. Added to Fr. McMahon’s difficulties was a dearth of funds which seemed to preclude anything but a very modest structure But the pastor solved both issues in the most radical and brilliant way: by re-using components of grand structures elsewhere in the City that for one reason or another were in the process of demolition.

The lower course of the facade was taken from the National Academy of Design building on 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue. The upper part of the façade was from the mansion of A.T. Stewart – the creator of Macy’s as a great department store and the founder of Garden City on Long Island. Iron beams and windows came from the Catholic Orphan Asylum at 50th Street. Finally, for the rear façade of the church, Fr. McMahon was able to secure the original apse of (new) St Patrick’s cathedral – demolished to make room for the present Lady Chapel. Yet all these fragments flow into and form a consistent whole rather than remaining an eclectic jumble. Our Lady of Lourdes was finished in 1903. 1)

The interior is somewhat disappointing after the grand exterior – a simple, moderately sized rectangular space supported by thin columns, and only adequately lit by smallish windows. Water damage has left its mark; paint is peeling everywhere. But upon closer examination the visitor discovers to his delight the immense wealth of decoration found almost everywhere in this church. It reflects the high quality of ecclesiastical art of that time. Indeed here and there it appears too rich, fantastic and extravagant. For example, there are the strange, exuberantly carved open brackets set against the side walls – were they intended as supports for galleries that have since disappeared or which were never built in the first place? But the furnishings of the sanctuary – the altar, tabernacle and metal work – are of the highest quality. The altar and other stone carvings are a mixture of white marble “Irish Gothic” interspersed with influences of the Renaissance and the Cosmati. The relatively few large windows in the sanctuary are superb – both those supposedly from St. Patrick’s and those created for Our Lady of Lourdes. In the rear of the church is chapel with large pieta; a Lourdes grotto is downstairs.

Regretfully, as in so many other churches, the conciliar “renewal” has left its mark especially on the sanctuary – only a remnant of the original elaborate metal and stone communion rail survives. The sanctuary is also cluttered with all kinds of inappropriate gear.

So Fr. McMahon could well feel proud of his achievement – one that fits in so well with the ecological ethos of today – the creation of a grand edifice primarily out of recycled elements! Nowadays, of course, when Catholic churches utilize older furnishings and decoration they come not from the secular realm but from cannibalizing the ever more numerous demolished Catholic churches….

But Our Lady of Lourdes parish has soldiered on over the years. In the course of time the parish became almost entirely Hispanic. This is very much a working class parish. As time went on, parts of the church fell into disrepair. A few years ago the New York Times featured a somewhat wistful interview with the pastor – seemingly a reflection on the decline of Catholicism in New York 2)

Yet the parish school continues to function. A repainting of the interior is underway. Gentrification will pose the same problems – and perhaps opportunities – for Our Lady of Lourdes that it has to half the parishes of New York City. And the challenges of the present day would be as nothing if today’s New York Catholics could summon up a fraction of the ingenuity and audacity – combined with (Traditional) faith – which Fr. McMahon possessed a century ago.

Nearby Convent Avenue.

West 142nd Street: the intact rows of townhouses.

As in several other churches of that era, a “logo’ is applied throughout the decorative scheme.

(Above and below) the curious brackets.

(above and below) Windows salvaged from St. Patrick’s (or adapted from such?)

The remaining part of the communion rail – and piano.

The most unusual sanctuary lamp in New York?

Extraordinary holy water fonts – with the Traditional Asperges.

1) Gray, Christopher; Streetscapes/the 1903 Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, on West 142nd Street; a Coat of Many Colors, a Building of Many Parts in The New York Times, August 3, 2003.
2) Fernandez, Manny, A Parish Priest, Witness to Great Change in The New York Times, April 16, 2009