Church of the Nativity (Manhattan)


The Church of the Nativity is a former Catholic parish church in the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 44 Second Avenue between Second and 3rd Streets in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1842.

History

Nativity parish was founded by Rev. Andrew Byrne. Byrne purchased the former Second Avenue Presbyterian Church, which was dedicated by Bishop John Hughes on June 5, 1842. Two years later, Byrne was named Bishop of Little Rock. George McCloskey was pastor for over twenty-years, until in 1869 he resigned to become vicar general for his brother, Bishop William McCloskey of Louisville.

When St. John the Baptist Church on West 30th Street burned down in 1847, pastorship of St. John's parish was assumed by the Church of the Nativity until St. John's was rebuilt in 1851. On January 20, 1912, a fire broke out at Nativity, destroying the "historic organ" and interior.
In November 2014, the archdiocese announced that the Church of the Nativity was one of 31 of its parishes which would be merged with other parishes. Nativity Parish was merged into Most Holy Redeemer Parish at 173 East 3rd Street and the church was being reduced to a mission church of the parish.
The church was deconsecrated in June 2017. It has been suggested by the current pastor of the combined parish that the Archdiocese of New York build low-income housing on the lot.

Buildings

The original painted-timber Greek Revival sanctuary was built in 1832 at 48 Second Avenue as the Second Avenue Presbyterian Church and was designed by the prominent New York firm of Town & Davis, which then included Alexander Jackson Davis, J. H. Dakin, and James Gallier. It consisted of a Greek Doric portico and two-stage steeple. In 1842, it was sold to the newly formed Nativity of Our Lord parish and became the Church of the Nativity. It was demolished in 1970, after a fire.
The present Modernist church was built at 44 Second Avenue from 1968 to 1970 for $240,000 to the designs of Genovese & Maddalene. It has been described as "starkly institutional" and "a modern architectural cartoon exhibiting a gross idea with no detail."
The parish included within its territory the headquarters of the Catholic Worker Movement and was the site of the Funeral Mass of its co-founder, Dorothy Day, in December 1980.