The Lost Holyrood Episcopal Church - Broadway and 181st Street

 

At around the last turn of the century, development encroached onto the recently bucolic setting.  photo by Thaddeus Wilkerson, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

R. D. Chandler used only his initials professionally.  The prolific architect was based in Fair Haven, New Jersey and was responsible for designs over wide-spread locations.  On one day alone, on May 14, 1898, for instance, Chandler filed plans for a two-story cottage in Elberon, New Jersey; a frame residence in Red Bank, New Jersey; and a public school at Fairhaven, New Jersey.  Three years earlier, he had commissioned a church building in the rural Fort Washington Heights district.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, Episcopalian Rev. William Oliver Embury earned his L.L. B. degree in 1866 from Columbia College.  In the 1880s, he was rector of the Anthon Memorial Church in West 48th Street before becoming involved with the Sisters of St. Mary far north in Inwood.  Rev. Embury was chaplain of the order's The House of Refuge for Problem Girls.  In 1893, he established a parish, the Holyrood.

Embury's pastoral site sat on the southwest corner of Broadway and 181st Street, surrounded with farmland and summer estates.  R. D. Chandler produced a one-story vernacular structure clad in fieldstone befitting to the country setting.  A sturdy porch sheltered the entrance and the corner tower rose to the belfry under a pyramidal cap.  Importantly, Chandler forewent the Gothic style in favor of more provincial square-headed openings.

A wooden picket fence surrounds the original structure.  from Fort Washington, 1902 (copyright expired)

The neighborhood around Holywood Episcopal Church was historic.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said, "The church is known as the Little Church at the old fort."  It had been the site of Fort Washington and on November 16, 1776, was the scene of the Battle of Fort Washington when the British devastated George Washington's army.

On the 125th anniversary of the battle, on November 16, 1901, "A marble, bronze and granite memorial commemorating the battle of Fort Washington was unveiled," reported the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.  The impressive ceremony included a police platoon, the 8th Artillery Band of the U.S. Army, two companies of the U.S. Coast Artillery, and, "Then came the colors of the Empire State society, Sons of the Revolution, with a guard composed of delegations of the two continental organizations," and the "bank of the New York Juvenile Asylum and three platoons of the boys from the Deaf and Dumb Asylum brought up the rear."

A second historical plaque was installed the following year, on September 23, 1902.  The Evening Post reported, "Mollie Pitcher was not the only woman who fought in the war of the Revolution."  That day the Mary Washington Colonial Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution unveiled the tablet in honor of Margaret Corbin.  After the war, Corbin had been recognized by Congress.

In reporting about the ceremony, The Bulletin explained,

Margaret Corbin was the wife of John Corbin, a patriot in the war for Independence.  He was in charge of a piece of artillery at fort Washington when the fort was assailed by the Hessian troops.  Margaret Corbin stood at her husband's side as he fired the gun.  When he was killed by a rifle shot she sprang to his place and kept the gun in action until she was herself shot and disabled.

On October 4, 1903, The Sun reported that plans had been filed for a "parish house, 30 feet front and 125 feet deep."  The article noted it "will contain a clubroom, gymnasium, bowling alleys, meeting hall and Sunday school and also a library for the Women's Guild of the church."  The cost of the extension was $9,000--about $321,000 in 2024 terms.

Holyrood Episcopal Church was the custodian of a significant collection of Revolutionary relics within the new parish house.  Among them, according to the New-York Tribune on August 7, 1904, were, "Exploded shells, bent spikes, broken bayonets and swords, a bent lance head and other weapons, in one case with the bones of the dead attached."  The article said in part,

The collection includes buttons of the 16th Foot, the regiment taken by "Mad" Anthony Wayne at Stony Point in 1779, the 23d Welsh Fusiliers, which fought in every engagement of the war; the 10th Regiment, which took part in the attack on Fort Washington, and the 44th, which was engaged in the building the earthworks still bearing the names of King George and Governor William Tryon.

In the guild room of the parish house was "a great fireplace built entirely of stones and bricks from old Colonial fireplaces and Revolutionary houses," said The Sun, later.

The historic fireplace.  New-York Tribune Illustrated Supplement, August 7, 1904 (copyright expired)

In only fifteen years after Holywood Episcopal Church opened its doors, the Fort Washington district was bustling with development.  On June 4, 1910, the Record & Guide reported, "The trustees of the Holyrood Church at the southwest corner of Broadway and 181st st., have voted to accept an offer for the church and site, which is said to exceed $200,000."   (The article mentioned the property "cost $30,000 15 years ago.")

With the massive windfall, equal to $6.62 million today, the congregation planned to erect "a new church in the English perpendicular Gothic style," nearby at 179th Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

When this photograph was taken around 1910, the church property was engulfed by apartment buildings.  from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.

The following year, on September 23, 1911, the Record & Guide reported, "The picturesque churchyard which once made the Holywood chapel at 181st street and Broadway so attractive has disappeared and two-story brick taxpayers cover the site."

Today's site.  photograph by Jesus Rodriguez

thanks for reader Jim Lesses to prompted this post