Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael

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160-foot tall Roman Catholic Church completed in 1903. Designed by George H. Streeton in the French Gothic style, it was built as the Church of St. Raphael, for the poor Irish immigrants of the rough neighborhood known as "Hell's Kitchen". The Croatian Parish, formed in 1913, rented a small disused church at 552 West 50th St., which they refurbished and named the Church of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, for the 9th-century Greek siblings called Apostles to the Slavs, but soon outgrew the space. It was given the opportunity to buy an old hall belonging to and behind St. Raphael's on 40th Street. The rundown facility, which had been used as a gymnasium, was redecorated with motifs of the homeland, and opened on October 24, 1971, as the St. Nikola Tavelić Croatian Center. The same year, the archdiocese granted permission for Sunday Mass celebrations in Croatian in St. Raphael's. After these Masses, the nuns began religious classes for children in the new Center. Soon, Cardinal Terence Cooke granted the Croats permission to take the church over. Since 1974 it been administered as the seat of a Croatian national parish, offering services in the Croatian language as well as services in English, and now called the Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael.

Its twin-towered front is composed of Manhattan schist trimmed with limestone; the rest of the main church is red brick trimmed with granite. The rectory adjoining the church on the east side, also designed by Streeton, is of a similar style. The main, north-facing facade of the church has a broad set of steps, behind an iron fence, leading up to three pointed-arches; the larger center arch encompasses two smaller arches and a rose window at the apex. Each arch has a wooden double-door with elaborate gilded tracery extending from the sides at the top, middle, and bottom. The wider center arch has two such sets of doors, divided by a brown varnished stone column. A lantern hangs from the apex of each arch, each of which is topped by a steeply-angled Gothic gable. Octagonal limestone columns between the arches are topped by Gothic pinnacles. A blind arcade of pointed-arches runs behind the taller central arch, surmounted by a narrower stack of blind pointed-arches that forms the base for the facade's focal point - a large pointed-arch filled by a rose window with elaborate tracery. Above this the roof comes to a gable point, with a statue placed on a pedestal and under a canopy, which is flanked by shields on both sides. The peak of the gable is crowned by a cross.

To either side of the center section, there is a slightly-projecting tower. At both towers, gates open to stairways leading down to basement entrances. Pointed-arch windows flank the doors of the center section, and the lower arcade from the center section continues onto the end towers, with their corners marked by sharp gables. Flanking the rose window are tall pointed-arch windows topped by pairs of shields. The central gable is flanked by arcades of blind arches between the projecting end piers of the towers, topped by a modillioned cornice. The upper part of the end towers, extending above the central gable, feature another pointed-arch window, topped by a sharp gable, and surmounted by copper crowns. The crowns have octagonal, shingled spires recessed behind paneled parapets, both topped by crosses.

At the east end, there is a 1-story octagonal connection to the rectory, with narrow pointed-arch windows at each facet. It is topped by a pointed shingle roof, with copper finials around the perimeter. The side elevations of both end towers match the design of the north-facing sides; the rest of the main church extends to the south, predominantly clad in red brick. Extending south, there are three bays divided by projecting brick piers, each with a large pointed-arch window at the lower level, and a set-back upper level with three smaller arches. Both levels are capped by corbel bands, and low-slope shingle roofs. The upper roof is pierced by three small dormers, each crowned by a miniature spire. Further south, due to the cruciform plan of the church, the east and west sides extend outward and feature a very large window divided by three vertical white metal pilasters and topped by a large pointed-arch rose window with elaborate white tracery. Above there is an arcade of blind pointed-arches and a triangular gable with three narrow pointed-arch openings in the middle. Finials extend from the ends of the gable, and peak has a cross. The north- and south-facing walls of the east and west extensions are plain brick, with corbel courses below the sloping roof. At the central intersection of the wings of the church there is another copper spire. The south end has pointed-arch windows on the upper part of the east and west elevations, with a sloping shingle roof below to the lower level; both levels are capped by corbel courses. Extending from the south facade is a lower, 5-sides section with a sloping shingle roof (topped by a cross), and tall pointed-arch windows on the angled facets.

At the west end of the church, there is a separate, 1-story (two floors at the south, rear portion) structure, simply faced in stucco and brick along the west elevation, but featuring a double-height north facade that complements the main facade of the church. It has a central doorway topped by a pointed-arch. On either side is a square-headed window, above which are blind pointed-arches are the false 2nd floor. A stone coping caps this facade, with a cross at the center.

The 2-story St. Nikola Tavelić Croatian Center is faced in white-painted smooth-stucco on the main south facade, and along the plain west elevation. At the middle of the south facade there are three round-arched openings with roll-down metal gates, with small single-windows at the 2nd floor. Projecting flagpoles are mounted below the two outer windows; above there is an incised cross with rounded ends, and a curving roof parapet, crowned at the peak by a cross. To either side of the middle section is a slightly-projecting bay with another single-window at the 2nd floor. Below these windows, both bays have mounted a large metal cross overlaid with the red-and-white checked Croatian shield. Lettering on the west bay reads "HRVATSKI CENTAR" and the east bay reads "CROATIAN CENTER". The tops of these bays have three narrow, blind round-arches and a low-sloping shingled roof. At the east end of the building there is a lower portion, topped by a lower, angled shingle roof, and a stuccoed wall with a round-arched gateway.