British-born architect Richard Upjohn was born on January 22, 1802 in Sheffield, England. He moved to the United States in 1829, and in 1835 designed his first of many churches throughout the United States. He would go on to design over 50 churches in the Gothic Revival and Italianate styles across the country throughout his almost forty-year career. Most were in the northeast, from Pennsylvania to Maine, but some were as far as Maryland and Wisconsin. He also designed several mansions, courthouses, and schools, many of which still exist. Perhaps his most prominent project is Trinity Church on lower Broadway, designed in 1846 and credited with kicking off the Gothic Revival style in the United States, and one of seven Trinity Episcopalian churches he would design over his career. Locally, he designed the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue and West 10th Street.

Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue West 10th Street, constructed 1840-1841
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