Our Lady of Guadalupe Church

Village Preservation is seeking landmark designation to preserve 229-231 West 14th Street, the home of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the first church for a Spanish-speaking congregation or a congregation with Spanish/Latin American heritage in New York. As of 2023, the Archdiocese of New York has indicated it is seeking to dispose of the property. 

The church was housed in two combined ca. 1850 houses beginning in 1902, with the current Spanish Baroque facade dating to 1921. From its earliest days, the church was strongly connected to both the sizable “Little Spain” mostly Gallego Spanish immigrant community centered around West 14th Street in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and in New York’s then-small but growing Latin American community, originally mostly Mexicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans. The buildings were sold to the church by the prominent Delmonico Family, and the church played an enormously important role in the spiritual life of Dorothy Day.

Very few New York City landmarks recognize our city’s Spanish or Latin American heritage, especially from these earliest stages.