Church of St. Agnes

 Roman Catholic church  Add category

Baroque-revival church originally completed in 1877. Designed by Lawrence J. O'Connor for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York in a Gothic-revival style, it was rebuilt in 1998 by Acheson, Thornton & Doyle, following a 1992 fire. The new church was patterned after the Church of Il Gesù in Rome and retaining two surviving towers from O'Connor's original church. The parish was established in 1873.

The new facade is limestone is a cool and crisp postmodern interpretation of Neo-Classical and Baroque, with grey granite water table and bases to the piers. There are three wooden double-doorways, the central one taller and topped by a triangular pediment. The side doors are topped by rounded pediments interrupted by square windows. Each doorway is framed by a pair of round columns that flank the piers separating the bays; the two columns in the center bay support a round-arch above the doorway. An entablature across the piers bears a gilded inscription reading "SAINT AGNES". Above, there are three bays with blind openings, and a statue of St. Agnes in front of the middle one. The center section is crowned by a large triangular pediment topped by a cross.

The end towers each have a smaller, recessed doorway, each with a plain, decorative circle above it. The upper level of the end towers also have blind openings.

www.stagneschurchnyc.org/