USA > New York > New York City > A discourse delivered in the North Reformed Dutch Church (Collegiate) : in the city of New-York, on the last Sabbath in August, 1856 > Part 7
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* Since the Middle Church was closed, the following list of churches have been transferred from the lower to the upper parts of the city: the African Church, (formerly German Lutheran,) from Frankfort street; St. George's, Episcopal, front Beekman street; the Dutch churches of Murray and Franklin streets; the Metho- dist Church of Vestry street; and the Duane Street and Brick Presbyterian churches.
+ It had been leased to the United States Government for a Post-Office.
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[NOTE H.]
General Remarks.
[Page [6 ]
THE number of churches of our denomination in the city of New- York, is referred to in the Discourse, as being nineteen, exclusive of the Collegiate. I had partially designed to give a list of them in their chronological order, with the succession of their ministries. But as this is not within the particular object of the discourse and pamphlet, and if fulfilled, might have led to the suggestion that it should have extended further, the design has been relinquished. After 1800, with the disuse of the Dutch language through our churches, and the or- ganization of our literary and theological seminaries, the Church assumed an attitude favorable to more vigorous exertion and more rapid enlargement. From 1797 we have the regularly published Minutes of the General Synod to the present time, giving the statis- tics of the churches and the list of its ministers from year to year, and marking the progress made. It is gratifying to perceive that the progress has become greatly accelerated of late years. During the ten years between 1846 and 1856, the number of ministers increased from 280 to 368, and the number of churches from 271 to 386. This 386 is the number of churches given in the statistical reports pub- lished in the Minutes of the General Synod of this year. But the Secretary of the Board of Domestic Missions has made a more full and complete enumeration, and makes the number 397, as given in the report of that Board for this year. For a view of the history, the character, the present condition, and prospects of the Church, we again call attention to the volume prepared by the Rev. Mr. Dema- rest of Hudson, and already referred to in Note A of the Appendix. It is to be desired that every family in our congregations may possess a copy. The Board of Publication have also done a good work in publishing Gunn's Life of Dr. Livingston, condensed and improved with valuable notes, and also the sermons of the elder Domine Fre- linghuysen, translated from the Dutch, by Rev. W. Demarest, of Boundbrook, N. J.
It is to be regretted that attention was not paid at an earlier period to the collection and preservation of materials for the history of our churches, before the direct and authentic traditions were lost. The Consistorial minutes of the old churches, kept in the Dutch lan- guage, were generally without regularity, and give but little informa- tion, except to trace the line of the ministry. The manuscripts of the
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pastors and others, in that language, have very generally not been preserved, but, not valued, have been lost or destroyed. Still it is important to trace all the avenues of information, and fill up the his- tory of our churches. The Rev. Dr. Taylor, of Bergen, N. J., has recently, at the instance of the Classis, prepared a history of all the churches of the Classis of Bergen, and of those attached to the ori- ginal Classis of Hackensack. It is proposed to issue the volume in a short time. He lias examined the different ecclesiastical records, and gleaned information from other sources, in the preparation of this work.
In the catalogue of the earliest ministers of our Church we might have added some of the earliest pastors of the German Reformed Church in Pennsylvania, who were in the habit of corresponding with ministers of our Church. The first German settlements in Pennsyl- vania were made at the beginning of the last century, and for a period mainly consisted of those of the Reformed faith. As early as 1728, a mission was sent to Holland to seek aid there in pecuniary contri- butions, and an increased supply of ministers. The request was at once met, and the Synods of North and South-Holland took the churches under patronage and supervision and took measures to give them liberal pecuniary aid and to seek out and train ministers for that field. About this time an interesting scene took place. While the Synod of South-Holland was in session at Dordrecht, a large number of pious Protestants of the Reformed faith fleeing from persecution in the Palatinate, were passing the place on their way to America, poor in worldly goods but rich in the supply of the word of God, and the Catechisms, etc. The Synod had interesting interviews with them, supplied their present temporal wants, and pledged their future con- tinued care over the churches formed, and to be formed in America. That pledge was faithfully and liberally redeemed. Yearly contribu- tions to their churches and schools were made, and a watchful care for the procurement of additional ministers was exercised. A few years before the middle of the last century a regular Cœtus was formed, which sent the minutes of their annual meetings to the Synod of North-Holland, submitting their proceedings to their supervision. It was not till 1785 or 6 that this connection with the Church of Hol- land ceased, and an independent judicatory in the General Synod of the German Reformed Church here was formed. Some of the ear- liest ministers of that Church, as Boehm, Weis, etc., were in intimate association and correspondence with the ministers of our Church here. There was one at a period a little later, in the German Re- formed Church, deserving to be held in remembrance by us, the Rev. G. H. DORSIUS, of N. and S. Hampton, Bucks county, Pa. . He was
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the intimate friend of the elder Frelinghuysen, they having been acquainted before their removal to America. He was the corre- spondent of Freeman and others of our ministers. He was a man of learning, and a faithful and able evangelical preacher. The Rev. J. H. Goetschius, and one or two of the sons of Domine Frelinghuysen studied under him. W. Jackson, Thomas Romeyn, J. R. Hardenbergh, Samuel Verbryck, etc., studied under the Frelinghuysens, father and son, and partly under Domine Goetschius. Theodorick Romeyn and some others studied under Domine Goetschius. These all proved workmen " that need not be ashamed," in the ability and success with which they prosecuted their labors. Their preaching was character- ized by soundness of doctrine and a discriminating and pungent ap- plication to the conscience and heart. A reference is made to Dor- sius, as deserving of remembrance, while his name is now forgotten among us. His successor was the Rev. Jonathan Dubois, who, although connected with the German Reformed Cœtus of Pennsylvania, was in constant intercourse with the ministers of our Church. Since the adoption of the Articles of Union, in 1771, the church has been in regular connection with our Synod, and is now under the pastoral care of Rev. A. O. Halsey. With this single reminiscence of the olden time of our Church, we must rest content.
The memory of the past, the position in which the providence of God now places us, and all the motives derived from faith in God's word, and love to Christ and his cause, should stimulate us to united, unceasing, and persevering exertion. Let the motto handed down to us, "Eendragt maakt magt," (union creates strength,) be engraved on our banners, and lodged in our hearts, and then let us enlist under the common banner of the Captain of our salvation, with the tribes of Israel. The word eendragt, which we translate union, is a compound one, literally signifying one pull. So let it be " A LONG PULL, A STRONG PULL, AND A PULL ALTOGETHER."
Description of the Architecture
OF THE
MIDDLE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH ON LAFAYETTE PLACE.
By S. A. Warner.
IT is a substantial and elegant structure, based in its design upon ancient examples of Athenian architecture, and not surpassed, in its classic beauty and purity of style, by any edifice of the Grecian school yet erected in our
WHITNEY
JOCELYN
THE
MIDDLE DUTCHI
CHURCH, ON LA FAYETTE
PLACE.
DEDICATED MAY 9. 1839.
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city. Its form is that of a parallelogram, 75 feet in width. Its extreme length, including the front portico and a projection in the rear, occupied by the pulpit and robing rooms, is 120 feet. Its exterior is of granite, of a light grayish color. The style adopted for the main building is the Ionic, of the highly-wrought and elegant description found in the temple of Erec- theus at Athens. The front presents an octastyle portico, surmounted by an angular pediment, including in its range the entire width of the front, and raised upon an elevated platform. It is approached by four granite steps, which embrace the entire front and sides of the portico, and terminate against buttresses placed in range with the antæ at the external angles. An inner row of columns, four in number, are elevated two additional steps, a break being thus formed in the floor of the portico. All the angles termi- nate with antæ, having moulded bases and capitals of characteristic design, and continued on the sides to a line with the base of the tower. The bases are continued the whole length of the external front walls. All the columns, twelve in number, are worthy of note for having the shafts in a single piece of granite each, there being but few of equal dimensions now standing that are not laid up in sections. They are of magnificent proportions, handsome- ly fluted, their bases finely moulded, and the capitals well executed, the neckings carved and enriched with the Grecian honeysuckle. The mould- ings in the cornices and entablatures are carved, and continued unbroken around the entire building, and along the sides the eaves are ornamented antifixia, in imitation of the termination of Grecian tiles, all cast in a metal- lic composition.
Five windows on either side of the building serve to light the interior, four of which open into the audience room, the others into the vestibule and stair- waysleading to the galleries. All are in a single length, and finished externally with Grecian architraves, sills, and cornices, sustained by consoles. A spacious area, extending along each side of the building, sunk to a level with the basement floor, gives light and access to the basement. A steeple, placed upon a building of Grecian or Roman design, presents an incongruity not reconcilable to correct principles of taste ; yet custom renders such an appendage so necessary a feature in Christian architecture, that its omission, however elegant a building might be in other respects, would hardly be tolerated. The prevailing lines being horizontal, great difficulty occurs in making them assimilate to the vertical lines of the steeple, yet long estab- lished usage requires this sacrifice of lineal harmony.
In the instance before us, the principal compartment consists of a circular temple, modelled after the choragic monument of Lysicrates, resting on an elevated octangular basement, and having eight columns with richly carved capitals. The entablature has an architrave subdivided into three facia, a plain frieze, and a dentiled cornice, surmounted by the Grecian scroll. Within the temple is placed a bell, and between the columns stationary blinds are placed for the egress of sound. From the top of the temple springs a spire of very fine proportions, of octagonal form, having foliated terminations, and sustaining a ball and weather-vane. The spire and temple are timber-framed, and covered with a sheathing of galvanized iron.
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The roof of the main building is in a single span, sustaining itself with- out the aid of columns, heavily timbered and of novel construction, and covered externally with copper.
The interior is approached by five door-ways, under the portico, all hav. ing neatly moulded architraves and cornices, three of which lead to the main audience room, and open into a spacious lobby. The remaining two open cach into a vestibule containing the stair-eases leading to the galleries. The main room is 68 by 70 feet, arranged with aisles of ample width, and pews of good dimensions, all finely carpeted and cushioned, placed in circu- lar form, the ends having handsome scrolls, and the tops of the panelings and partitions with moulded rails, all of mahogany. There are seats for about fifteen hundred persons. Galleries extend around three sides of the interior, supported by delicate iron columns, and are fitted with well-ar- ranged pews, with sittings for about five hundred persons. At the easterly end, in a recess projected over the lobby, stands the organ, a purely-toned instrument, of beautiful design and execution, twenty-five fect in width, and on either side, separated from it by narrow aisles and railings, are seats for the Sunday-school children. The ceiling over the organ-gallery is arched, and handsomely panelled and enriched. At the westerly end is the pulpit, placed in a recess, projected beyond the body of the building, and containing besides, the clergyman's robing and retiring rooms. The angles and front are decorated with pilasters, standing on a sub-basement of marble, on which also stands the pulpit. The ceiling is curved, and handsomely rc- lieved by enriched panelings and other appropriate ornamental work. The pulpit is of statuary marble, of a pure white, and designed in a style of chasteness and simplicity. The ceiling over it contains a sky-light, glazed with stained glass, of ncat design, and of subdued, unpretending colors. On each side of the pulpit stands a candelabrum of fine Grecian design, beautifully executed, finished in artistie bronze, sustaining a single globe, and lit with gas. A full entablature, having a dentiled cornice, is carried around the interior, and from it springs the ceiling in the form of a dome, but slightly elevated, and divided into radiating panels, all the compartments and spandrils being deeply sunk, and finished with enriched mouldings and ornamented work, and so arranged with openings disguised by the panel- ings, as to give sufficient ventilation to the entire interior.
Originally, there stood in the recesses containing the organ-gallery and pulpit, Corinthian columns supporting the interior entablature ; also, in the organ-gallery, piers of stuccoed brick, sustaining a portion of the steeple. During the year 1855 the church was closed for repairs, when the removal of the columns and piers was resolved upon and carried into effect. Iron columns, of slender diameter, but sufficient strength, were substituted for the piers required for support. Iron lintels and beams were also introduced where strength was needed; and although to undermine and sustain so weighty a structure as the entire steeple, might be considered a difficult operation, it was, by the application of mechanical skill and ingenuity, safely accomplished, and however requisite the presence of the cumbrous columns may once have appeared, the enlarged capacity and increased convenience
CHURCH ON FIFTH AVENUE AND 29TH STREET. DEDICATED OCTOBER 11TH, 1854.
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of the interior, give any thing but reason to regret their removal. The once cramped and confined vicinity of the pulpit has now an air of spa- ciousness and freedom, and the voluminous sounds of the music contrast favorably with its former subdued and unrevealed tunes. The organ was also rearranged, and its now splendid front erected and so contrived as to inclose and hide the iron columns which sustain the steeple. Few churches of similar style can boast of a finer or more effective interior.
The basement contains a lecture-room, Sunday-school room, also others for business purposes connected with the church. It is handsomely finished and fitted up throughout, and is made accessible by staircases from within and granite steps from without. In it are also located furnaces by which the entire building is warmed. Vaults are constructed under the front steps and portico, which afford ample room for fuel.
A yard, thirty-six feet in width, extends along the northerly side of the church, beneath which are burial-vaults to the number of thirty-four, each indicated by a stone slab, marked with its proprietor's name, and entered by the removal of its earthy covering and a stone which closes the aperture in the arch.
The yard is well cared for, being tastily laid out in walks and flower-beds, and handsomely ornamented with rose bushes, and shrubbery-like frail and tender memorials of those who sleep in the dark, quiet recesses below.
Description of the Architecture
OF THE
REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, CORNER OF FIFTH AVENUE AND TWENTY-NINTH STREET.
By Samuel A. Warner, Architect, under whose superintendence it was erected.
THE edifice erected on the north-westerly corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-ninth street, for the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, of the city of New-York, was commenced in the year 1851, the corner-stone having been laid on the 26th day of November of that year, with appropriate cere- monies, and progressed through all the various stages of construction, until the 11th day of October, 1854, when it was dedicated, and opened for public worship.
The material used in its exterior is white marble, from the quarries at Hastings, in Westchester Co., N. Y., and from its whiteness is in strong contrast with the darker stone in more general use for buildings of this description. Its lightness of color renders shadows more effective, thereby bringing the details of the work more into view, and producing contrasts of
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forms and light and shade almost wholly lost on a darker material. The spires, turrets, finials, and other terminations, are all of the same, and all parts of the work are wrought with more than usual fineness and distinct- ness.
The style of the building is technically known as the Romanesque. Its peculiarities consist in the use of the Roman or semi-circular arch, and of circular sweeps and curves in all its tracery, panel work, and other details, and in having most of its mouldings and its various members sunk below the surfaces, instead of being raised ; yet in general forms and outlines, and in much of its details, resembling the Gothic.
The church fronts on Fifth Avenue, its extreme width being 82 feet, and the extreme length of the main edifice 113 feet, behind which, and fronting on Twenty-ninth street, is the lecture-room, 34 feet wide, which, with the main building, makes a total length of 147 feet.
The front has a central or main tower 24 feet square, terminating in a spire 215 feet high from the ground, and at each angle an octagonal tower, rising to the height of 80 feet, terminating in spires with carved finials.
The central tower rises in a square form to the height of 120 feet, is divided into four sections, with handsomely moulded and corbeled courses, and has at the top a moulded cornice. At the angles there are massive gradu- ated buttresses, in four sections, terminating in octagonal turrets, with pin- nacles, neatly moulded cornices, and carved finials, at a height of 135 feet from the ground. From the top of the square tower rises an octagonal · section, designed with buttressed angles, and having windows with splayed jambs and sills, and finished with a heavy moulded cornice. This section is 18 feet diameter, exclusive of the buttresses, and 25 feet high, and from it springs the spire, 70 feet in height, which has panelled faces, three tiers of windows, and terminating with a carved finial. The main entrance is in the tower, and has a richly carved and moulded doorway, with columns having enriched caps and moulded bases. Above this is a window 30 feet in height, with deep moulded jambs, moulded sills, and mullions. The next above is the bell section, which comes above the main body of the church, and has windows on the four sides arranged in couplets, and having deep splayed jambs, and moulded sills, and heads. The next is the clock section, the faces of which are sunk and moulded. The clock faces, four in number, are handsomely carved and moulded.
In each side of the main tower, the front has a window, divided by a inullion, two sections in height, the sections being separated by moulded panels. The windows have moulded jambs and sills.
The towers at the angles have buttresses in two sections. On either side of the church is an entrance, with a moulded doorway, opening into a spacious lobby, on the first story, and above the doorways are windows, lighting the lobbies to the galleries.
Each side of the church has five mullioned windows, twenty-five feet high each, all with moulded jambs and sills. The piers between the windows have heavy buttresses in two sections, and all terminating in gabled copings.
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The walls between the buttresses on the sides and between the towers on the front are recessed, and finished with moulded corbel courses at the tops.
The main cornice is neatly moulded, and is carried along the sides and up the front, terminating against the main tower. Above the cornice, it is de- signed to place a balustrade of open moulded panel work, with moulded capping and base. The side buttresses terminate below the cornice.
The front of the lecture-room has octagonal towers, one at each angle, similar to those at the angles of main front, and has a gable with moulded cornice and copings, a pinnacle in the centre. The front wall is recessed and has moulded corbel courses. There is a doorway opening into a roomy lobby, narrow windows on either side of the doorway, and above it a large mullioned window, and all have moulded jambs, heads and sills.
The entire superstructure rests on a heavy moulded base, raised four feet above the walks. The roofs are covered with Vermont slates.
All the doorways have broad granite steps.
The entrances to the main edifice open into lobbies of ample dimensions, containing staircases leading to the galleries, and all connected by arched openings through the walls of the tower. Wide folding-doors open from the lobbies into the main audience-room. This is sixty-eight feet wide, eighty-six feet long, and fifty feet high, and is entirely unobstrueted by columns or other usual means of support, the roof being in a single span, and the galleries sustained by iron work built into the side walls. The room will comfortably seat 1500 persons. There are six rows of pews on the ground-floor running lengthwise, and one row across the end each side of the pulpit, all finished with rich moulded panel work, and mahogany rails and scrolls.
The gallery is carried around three sides of the church, containing three rows of pews, and suitable aisles and passages.
The aisles on the ground floor are very spacious and roomy. The iron work sustaining the galleries is hid from view by being cased over with wood work formed into massive brackets of appropriate and effective de- signs, moulded, panelled, and carved, and terminating in carved pendants. The gallery front is finished with moulded panel work and moulded capping and base.
At the west end is an arched recess 20 feet wide and 36 feet high, con- taining the pulpit, and finished with elaborate tracery work, and forming one of the most pleasing and attractive features of the building. There are richly panelled doors, leading from this into retiring rooms for the clergy- men, fitted with many conveniences and fixtures not heretofore introduced into churches. The front of the recess is finished with mouldings and columns, all appropriately enriched. The pulpit is of elegant design, finished with moulded panel work, tracery, and enriched carvings. A descent given to the church floor brings the audience well into view of the officiating clergyman.
The organ gallery is situated at the easterly end of the church, above the main gallery, supported by heavy brackets, richly moulded and carved. The front is of open panel work, all of good design and effect.
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The organ case is elaborately carved and moulded, and is designed in keeping with the general character of the building. The works of the organ are placed in the main tower, the front only showing in the audience- room. Yet the arrangement is such that there is no apparent obstruction in its sound, every note being clear and well defined.
An iron staircase leads to the organ gallery. The roof is so constructed as to give but little thrust to the side walls, which is amply resisted by the exterior buttresses. A portion of the roof is open to the interior, and is finished with mouldings and well-designed tracery work. The ceiling is formed into groined arches with neatly moulded ribs, springing from piers on the sides with enriched caps, panelled and moulded faces, and resting on massive corbels built in the walls. Panels are introduced into the ceiling, all finished with mouldings, tracery, etc., and arranged so as to be opened or closed at pleasure, for ventilating purposes. Bosses, pendants, brackets, and other details required either in construction or ornamentation, are all of characteristic designs.
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