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Sacred Sites Open House Weekend Coming Up!

GVSHP is proud to be a co-sponsor of the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House Weekend, which is this weekend, Saturday May 16th and Sunday May 17th.  According to NYLC:

Each spring, congregations throughout the State open their doors so neighbors can experience first-hand the wonderful art, architecture, and history embodied in New York’s Sacred Sites. Visitors also learn about the crucial social and cultural programming these magnificent religious institutions provide their communities as well.

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This year’s Open House Weekend, “Celebrating New York’s Diverse Houses of Worship”, is being organized as part of the 50th anniversary of New York City’s Landmarks Law and is scheduled for May 16-17, 2015.

The annual Open House weekend has three objectives:
• To encourage sacred sites to open their doors to the general public. Inviting visitors is a great way to build broad community support for the ongoing preservation of historic institutions.

• To inspire residents to be tourists in their own town, introducing non-members to the history, art and architecture embodied in sacred places. New Yorkers tour religious sites around the world but may overlook those in their own back yard. Developing cultural tourism is key to the future of sacred sites.

• To publicize the many programs and services religious institutions offer their neighbors. The important work these sites provide benefits the entire community – not just the congregation’s members- and help ensure the congregation’s future.

For more information, email sacredsites@nylandmarks.org or call 212.995.5260.

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clockwise from top left: Interiors of Grace Church, St. Luke in the Fields, St. Brigid-St. Emory, and Church of the Ascension.

The event includes several great houses of worship in our neighborhoods, including The Church of the Ascension at 5th Avenue and 10th Street, the Church of St. Brigid-St. Emeric at Avenue B and 8th Street, St. Luke in the Fields at 487 Hudson Street at Grove Street, Grace Church at 802 Broadway at 10th Street, and Judson Memorial Church at 55 Washington Square South at Thompson Street.

There are of course many other incredible and inspiring sites nearby in Manhattan and throughout the five boroughs; you can view the entire list of participating New York City houses of worship here.

And if you want to find out more about the four houses of worship in the Village and the East Village that

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For more information on historic religious buildings in our neighborhoods.

are participating, in addition to going to their websites (linked above), we’ve got a lot of additional information about each on our website’s resources page under Historic District and Individual Landmark Designation Reports, Maps, and Photos.

There you can also check out the New York City individual landmark designation report and State and National Registers of Historic Places designation report for Grace Church (here), the State and National Registers of Historic Places report on the Church of the Ascension (here), and plenty of information about St. Luke in the Fields within the Greenwich Village Historic District designation report (here).

Want to find out more about other historic religious buildings in our neighborhood?  Check out the ecclisiastical structures section of GVSHP’s report “Ten Years, A Thousand Buildings, A Hundred Blocks: A Decade of Progress on Landmarks and Zoning Protections in the Village, East Village, and NoHo.”

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