St. George's Church with Susan Isaacs and Donald Miller

Burnside Writers Collective Article by Stephanie Nikolopoulos

St. George's Church with Susan Isaacs and Donald Miller

CHURCH HOPPING, FEATURED — BY STEPHANIE NIKOLOPOULOS ON JANUARY 5, 2010 AT 12:00 AM 

Susan Isaacs and Donald Miller have been doing a lot of church hopping lately.  Through the fall, they were popping in and out of churches across

Donald Miller, Susan Isaacs, Stephanie Nikolopoulos, and Sally Lloyd-Jones

America to share from their latest books.  When they stopped in New York, they begged to hang out with me, hoping to finally find fame in my ever-popular Church Hopping column.  I lead a very busy and important life, what with having to wash my hair and catch up on reruns of Doogie Howser on Hulu, but I acquiesced to meeting them.  Supporting the Burnside community is the Christian thing to do.

Since appearing in photographs with me would greatly improve their popularity, we decided to take a few.  I had told them we had to keep it “churchy,” though, so it would tie into this church architecture column.  Fortunately, Calvary-St. George’s is one of those churches that actually looks like a church, instead of being a makeshift church-space on Sundays like so many New York City churches are, so we were able to find a few props—er, religious icons—backstage.  Susan and her friend Sally Lloyd-Jones, an author of Christian children’s books, needed no direction whatsoever and quickly got into character.  Don, the more erudite art-historian, saved his assessment of the church’s architecture for the crowd, saying, “Welcome toHogwarts.”

a couple of saints (photo by Stephanie Nikolopoulos)

Church: Calvary-St. George’s

Location: 209 East 16th Street (at 3rd Avenue, near Stuyvesant Square)

For the purposes of this article, we’ll be focusing on the architecture of the St. George’s branch since that’s where the reading took place, but for your reference the Calvary branch is located nearby at  277 Park Avenue South (at 21st Street, near Gramercy Park).

Website: http://www.calvarystgeorges.org

Architects: Otto Blesch (exterior) and Leopold Eidlitz (interior).  Blesch was a Bavarian-born architect.  Eidlitz is also responsible for the New York State Capitol, Tweed Courthouse, and P. T. Barnum’s house.

Built: St. George moved to Stuyvesant Square in 1846 and the building was completed in 1856.  Calvary-St. George began as a church community as far back as 1749, though.

Donald Miller, Larry Wilson, Susan Isaacs, and Sally Lloyd-Jones pose with religious statuettes at Calvary-St.George's

Exterior design: This National Historical Landmark is one of New York’s most important examples of early Romanesque Revival, or Neo-Romanesque, architecture.  In keeping with this style, the church has an emphasis on arched and round shapes, which is seen most clearly in the apse (the semi-circular recess) and in the uniform arched window treatment.

There is also a large rose window over the entrance of the building.

In the original design of the building, there were two Gothic spires.  It is unfortunate that they are no longer present, since, based on early drawings, they were quite stunning.

Notice that even within the apse, the semi-dome and arches around the window reinforce the round style common to Neo-Romanesque architecture (photo by Stephanie Nikolopoulos)

Interior design: The apse, mentioned above, is even more spectacular from the interior. Situated over the altar, its semi-dome commands attention.  The curvature of the shape works to enclose the liturgical east end of the church, making for a feeling of closeness and security that the expansive, dark church wouldn’t have otherwise.  Painted blue and with a magnificent star-like chandelier, reminiscent of Hans Harald Rath’s chandelier at the Metropolitan Opera House, hanging from the center, the apse has an almost ethereal look compared to the rest of the church, which is more somber.

The apse's semi-dome with the beautiful chandelier (photo by Stephanie Nikolopoulos)

The dark wooden beams that stretch across the high ceiling, like the skeleton of a whale, however do also serve to bring the focus of the room down, closer to the congregants.

In fact, special attention should be paid to the craftsmanship of the wood within the interior of the church.  Of note are the fanciful clover shapes that adorn the pews.

They just don't make pews like this anymore. Look at the attention to detail in the wood carvings.

Famous congregant: Banker J. P. Morgan was a warden of the church.

Music trivia: Harry T. Burleigh, a grandson of former slaves, was called one of the saviors of spirituals and sang in the St. George’s choir for more than five decades.  Burleigh’s “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” arrangement inspired Dvorak’s “Symphony from the New York.”

Random fact: The Village Voicecalled the church the “Best place to buy Edith Wharton-worthy furniture.”  How’s that for literary connections?

Special thanks to Susan Isaacs, Larry Wilson, Sally Lloyd-Jones, and Donald Miller for participating in this special edition of Church Hopping.

If you have a good Church Hopping story from the tour (or otherwise), share your photos and architecture insights with us!