Page 119 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

EAST VILLA GE  117

5 St. Mark’s Church- the crowds turned the event A small statue of a boy and a
in-the-Bowery into complete chaos. girl looking at a steamboat
The marble spire replaced a commemorates the deaths of
131 E 10th St. Map 4 F1. Tel (212) 674- wooden steeple in 1888 amid over 1,000 local residents in
6377. q Astor Pl. Open 10am–4pm fears that it might prove too the General Slocum steamer
Mon–Fri (hours may vary). 5 6:30pm heavy for the church – and it disaster. On June 15, 1904,
Wed, 11am Sun; in Spanish 5:30pm has since developed a distinct the boat caught fire during a
Sat. ∑ stmarksbowery.org
lean. The church is visible from pleasure cruise on the East
One of New York’s oldest afar because it is on a bend on River. The boat was crowded
churches, this 1799 building Broadway – Henry Brevoort with women and children
replaced a 1660 church on forced the bend to divert it from this then-German
the bouwerie (farm) of Governor around his apple orchard. neighborhood. Many local men
Peter Stuyvesant. He is buried lost their entire families and
here, along with seven gener- moved away, leaving the area
ations of his descendants and and its memories behind.
many other prominent early
New Yorkers. Poet W. H. Auden 8 Bayard-Condict
was a parishioner and is also
commemorated here. Building
In 1878, a grisly kidnapping 65 Bleecker St. Map 4 F3.
took place when the remains q Bleecker St.
of department store magnate
A. T. Stewart were removed The graceful columns, elegant
from the site and held for filigreed terracotta facade, and
$20,000 ransom. magnificent cornice on this
The church rectory at 232 1898 building mark the only
East 11th Street dates from New York work by Louis Sullivan,
1900 and is by Ernest Flagg, the great Chicago architect who
who achieved renown for his taught Frank Lloyd Wright. He
Singer Building (see p100). died in poverty and obscurity
in Chicago in 1924.
Sullivan is said to have
6 Grace Church objected vigorously to the
Grace Church altar and window sentimental angels supporting
802 Broadway. Map 4 F1. Tel (212) the Bayard-Condict Building’s
254-2000. q Astor Pl, Union Sq.
@ M1–3, M8, M101–3. 5 Jul & Aug: 7 Tompkins Square cornice, but he eventually gave
10am, 6pm Sun; Sep–Jun: 9am, in to the wishes of Silas Alden
11am, 6pm Sun. ^ 7 Concerts. Map 5 B1. q 2nd Ave, 1st Ave. Condict, the owner.
∑ gracechurchnyc.org @ M8, M9, M14A. Because this building is
squeezed into a commercial
James Renwick, Jr., the This English-style park has the block, it is better appreciated
architect of St. Patrick’s makings of a peaceful spot, from a distance. Cross the street
Cathedral, was only 23 but its past has more often and walk a little way down
when he designed this been dominated by strife. Crosby Street for the best view.
church, yet many consider It was the site of America’s
it his finest achievement. first organized labor
Its delicate early Gothic demonstration in 1874,
lines have a grace the main gathering
befitting the place during the
church’s name. The neighbor hood’s
interior is just as hippie era of the
beautiful, with Pre- 1960s, and, in 1988,
Raphaelite stained an arena for violent
glass and a hand- riots when the
some mosaic floor. police tried to evict
The church’s homeless people
peace and serenity who had taken
were briefly over the grounds.
shattered in 1863, The square
when Phineas T. also contains
Barnum staged a poignant
the wedding of monument to
dwarf General Temperance Fountain at the neighborhood’s
Tom Thumb here; Tompkins Square greatest tragedy. The Bayard-Condict Building

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