When that portion of the city where it is situated changed its character as regards to the nationality of its population, it was determined to make it largely a mission church, and it was placed under the care of the New-York City Mission and Tract Society.
The newspaper explained that the Olivet Mission at the time, "stood back from the street and was accessible only by an alleyway." On April 26, 1885, The New York Times described, "Olivet Mission, situated in one of the most densely populated German quarters of the city, is the centre of a wide and varied system of practical and intelligent work among the poor." Its outreach included an Industrial School where boys learned manual crafts and girls were taught domestic skills like cooking and sewing.
In 1890, A. K. Ely, "who was interested in the church," according to The New York Times on December 28, 1891, "purchased the lots in front [of the mission]...and Mr. D. H. McAlpin and Mrs. Pyle, his sister, gave $65,000 for the new church building." The commission was given to the architectural firm of J. C. Cady & Co., founded by Josiah Cleaveland Cady.
Completed in December 1891, the church was clad in undressed Kentucky limestone. Unlike many Gothic Revival churches of the period, with airy spires and bell towers, Olivet Memorial Church presented a somewhat fortress presence, with full-height crenulated turrets that divided the severely rectangular facade into three bays. The square-headed openings of the first floor gave way to striking Gothic windows at the second that rose to dramatic points decorated with crockets. The top floor morphed to Romanesque with the windows forming regimented arcades.
The Olivet Memorial Church opened on December 27, 1891. The New York Times commented, "Indeed, in many respects it resembles the new buildings in England that are being built in harmony with the forward movement there." The article described, "it has been treated in so pronounced an architectural style, and has such pleasing features of decoration and fitting, that it is not surpassed in beauty by any of the more costly churches in town."
The auditorium accommodated about 1,000 people, "in view of the pulpit," said The Times, adding, "there are fourteen handsome class rooms, five halls for large classes, and a gymnasium about 50 by 70 feet." There were, as well, rooms for the teachers and workers and an apartment for the janitor. Calling it "a practical building," it was designed not only for church services, but for instruction, "secular, industrial and religious."
Among the "industrial" spaces in the building was "the great sewing room," as described by The Evening World, where local women and girls worked at needlework. On April 13, 1895, the newspaper remarked, "there is a cheery hopefulness in their worn faces, for they are earning 15 cents an hour with their needles, and the 15 cents buys double its value in the made-up garments they turn out." (The 153 women did not received cash money, but credit to buy the finished clothing.) The article said, "each of them is wed to poverty, and but for the two or three hours spent in the great sewing-room each week they and their loved ones could never have aprons, undergarments, sheets and pillow cases, which they are able to earn in this way."
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| Women working in the Sewing Room. The Evening World, April 13, 1895 (copyright expired) |
The Lower East Side continued to attract immigrants from various European countries. On December 5, 1895, The Sun noted that at the Olivet Memorial Church, "services in English, German, and Armenian are conducted."
Women and children in the tenements could look forward to one day away from their drudgery each year. Churches of the Lower East Side annually hosted an excursion to a picnic grounds where members enjoyed music, food and games. Because the men had to work, the excursions were almost entirely made up of women and children.
On July 21, 1905, 500 women and children from the Olivet Memorial Church lined up on the dock to board the iron steamboat Sirius to go to Huntington Harbor, Long Island. The vessel would have 50 men aboard, including the crew and band. Everyone in line assuredly knew that this was the very same dock which, a year earlier, women and children from St. Luke's German Lutheran Church lined up to board the General Slocum. That excursion ended tragically, with the General Slocum burning to the water line and 1,000 passengers killed.
As the Sirius neared North Brother Island, where the General Slocum disaster had occurred, a "screw boat," the W. G. Payne, forced the Sirius off course and into the rocks. The Sun reported, "The grinding as the Sirius went aground scared her passengers, and a moment later, when the boat suddenly stopped, men, women and children were thrown from their camp stools. The band was playing, and it stopped suddenly."
As panic began to sweep throughout the crowd, according to The Sun, "Then some one with horse sense ordered the band to get busy, and the music acted like magic." Captain William Pierce got the vessel off the rocks, but it was rapidly taking on water. He beached the Sirius on the mud flats to prevent it from sinking. The Evening World praised, "A few moments' hesitation, an unsteady hand at the wheel, and the steamer would have gone to the bottom, carrying hundreds of dead with her." The passengers were offloaded from the disabled vessel, and while the steamboat company offered a substitute boat to continue to the Long Island Sound, "none of them felt in any mood to continue on the voyage," said The Evening World.
The Olivet Memorial Church continued its work in the neighborhood until 1942, when it merged with the Middle Collegiate Church at Second Avenue and 7th Street. A few months later, on January 22, 1943, The New York Times reported that "the old stone building at 59-63 Second Street" had been sold by the New York City Mission Society to the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America.
"The church now will be known as the Pro-Cathedral, and will house the Cathedral Church and the executive offices of the chancery of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church," explained the article. Prior to the Russian Revolution, the episcopal seat in New York City was St. Nicholas Cathedral on East 97th Street. After the change of government, a battle erupted between the Most Reverend Metropolitan Planton and the Soviet Government. The Soviets won.
On November 21, 1926, The New York Times reported, “Trinity Episcopal Parish has turned over to Archbishop Platon, deposed Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, and to the thousands of New York Russians who remained faithful to him, one-half of St. Augustine's Chapel, 105 East Houston Street, for a Russian Cathedral” The parish worshiped there until finding a permanent home here. The former Olivet Memorial Church was rechristened the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection. The interior was redecorated in traditional Byzantine style, including bold colors and iconography.
As had been the case with the Olivet Memorial Church a century earlier, the services here were not only in English. On January 6, 1964, the Slavic Christmas Eve, The New York Times reported, "At the Metropolitan's cathedral, the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection, 59 East Second Street, there will be a Slavonic service tonight at 7 o'clock and an English one at midnight."
Two years later, on October 27, 1966, The Villager reported on an upcoming three-day bazaar. The article said in part, "Times changed; buildings were torn down; the parish dwindled, a familiar situation with urban churches. But the cathedral remains, and continues to be the episcopal seat, and as such, it has to sustain a choir, clergy, servets, and staff, which have been increasingly difficult to finance. That is why the coming bazaar is being held."
Despite the changes in the neighborhood--or because of them--nearly a century after the parish moved into the building, the Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection continues to be an important presence in its community. Its website says, "Though founded by immigrants from the former Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires, our parish membership is ethnically diverse including a large contingent of Georgians, and nearly 40 percent of our members are adult converts to the Orthodox faith."
many thanks to historian Anthony Bellov for suggesting this post
photographs by the author
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