Holy Innocents' Church (New York City, New York)

 Gothic revival (architecture), 1870_construction, Roman Catholic church

Gothic-revival style Roman Catholic church completed in 1870. Designed by Patrick C. Keely, it is clad in dark reddish-brown stone with white stone accents. The facade is divided by tall projecting piers into three sections, reflecting the internal division of a tall, wide nave and shorter, narrower side aisles. At the ground level the central section has a grand pointed-arch entrance approached by a flight of steps, flanked by lancets with polychrome leaded glass windows in smaller pointed-arches.

The entrances to either side mirror the form of the central entrance, only slightly shorter. Above the central entrance, at the 2nd level, are four small pointed-arch windows; at either side, above each side entrance, there is a wider pointed-arch window with stone tracery. A much larger pointed-arch window with ornamental stone tracery, rises above the central four windows above the central entrance; above that window, three arches within the central gable hold three statues of religious figures. The gable is topped by a cross. To either side the piers are crowned by Gothic ornament, and are flanked by buttresses, with similar crowns on the shorter end piers.

The parish was established in 1868. When the church building was completed, the first pastor engaged Constantino Brumidi to create a monumental fresco over the main altar. At the time of the construction, the area around the church was semi-rural, with cows frequently seen roaming the streets and open pastures nearby. Today, the church is the only one in New York City to offer a daily traditional Latin Mass.