Church of Our Saviour (New York City, New York)

USA / New Jersey / West New York / New York City, New York / Park Avenue, 59

3-story French Romanesque-style Roman-Catholic church completed in 1959. Designed by Paul C. Reilly, it is the first church built in New York City that was designed to accommodate air conditioning; the cooling equipment is hidden in the tower. The facade is limestone and the roof is red tile with a copper steeple.

The main entrance on the Park Avenue side has glass double-doors behind dark-red wood-and-glass doors, above which is a trio of tall stained-glass windows each ending in round-arched, the center one tallest, with intricate carvings topping each and engaged pilasters framing them. These are encompassed within a larger arch, edged by an array of four engaged pilasters with elaborate foliate carvings at the outer one, and topped by Corinthian capitals supporting the architraves, each of which features a different pattern. This central section is topped by a colonnade with niches and a triangular pediment surmounted by a cross. The niches are filled by statues created by craftsmen of a stone-carving program led by Henry J. Pizzutello. To either side of the main entrance is a small, round-arched window at the ground level, and at the north end is a slightly-recessed 1-story section with a secondary entrance; it has a dark-red wooden door with a grid of bronze panels, set between engaged columns of various patterns, topped by similarly carved voussoirs enclosing a trio of statuary.

A matching entry is at the north side of this 1-story corner section. The rest of the north facade on 38th Street is dominated by a tower rising to the left of center. To its right is a row of seven round-arched windows at the ground level, with a rose window above them. The base of the tower has another entrance, with dark-red wooden double-doors with bronze panels, atop a set of granite steps that narrows between sets of engaged pillars similar to those at the west entrance. The upper part of the tower has three tall stained-glass windows, with statue niches at the corners, and is topped by a four-sided, sloped tile roof and copper steeple. To the east of the tower are three more round-arched windows at the ground level

The interior of the church contains a vaulted auditorium space.
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Coordinates:   40°44'57"N   73°58'45"W
This article was last modified 10 months ago