St. Elizabeth's was founded by
Slovakian immigrants on the
Lower East Side, with the first
Mass celebrated on April 26, 1891, in the basement of St. Bridget's Church on 8th Street and Avenue B.[2][3] The first church building was located
345 East 4th Street, which hosted its first Mass on August 7, 1892. A special feature of The New York Times in 1901, mentioned the church, listed as "the Hungarian church," among other Catholic structures in the
Lower East Side of Manhattan, describing the group "for the most part...limit[ing] themselves to the functions of a parish church, in districts where social needs are otherwise supplied." Without comment on other facilities attached.[4]
As parishioners relocated, it became necessary to move the parish. The former Second Emmanuel Lutheran Church church on East 83rd Street, built in 1892, became the new home for St. Elizabeth's on June 7, 1917.[2] It underwent several expansions in the following decades.[2]
As the local Slovak population declined later in the 20th century,
Cardinal Cooke redesignated it as a church for the
deaf Catholics of New York on July 1, 1980.[2]
In November 2014, the Archdiocese announced that the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary was one of 31 neighborhood parishes which would be merged into other parishes.[5] St. Elizabeth of Hungary and
St. Stephen of Hungary were to be merged into the
Church of St. Monica at 413 East 79th Street.[6]
The Archdiocese of New York issued a decree to close the church on June 30, 2017,[7] but that decision, along with the earlier decision to merge, were appealed to the Vatican by parishioners[8] and are still pending as of 2023. The church had earlier been considered for, but did not receive, landmark status from the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.[9]
Building
The AIA Guide to NYC (Fifth Edition, 2010), neglects to mention an architect, describing the
Gothic Revival church as "a classy, spired neo-Gothic exterior, but the treat is within: ascent the stairs to view a just heavenly groin-vaulted ceiling painted in the colors of
Ravenna's
mosaics."[1]
References
^
abWhite, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City. American Institute of Architects New York Chapter (Fifth ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 478.
ISBN978-0-19-538386-7.
^
abcd"Our History", StElizabethofHungaryNYC.org, retrieved February 7, 2011
^"
Centres of Civilization; On the Lower East Side of New York", The New York Times, Jul 21, 1901. Excerpt: “Everybody who read it must have been struck by a remark of Mr. Hewitt's, made not very long ago, touching the tenement house district, which was considerably commented on in the press. The remark was that it was not only the part of humanity and charity for the more favored to assist the less favored, but that in this particular case, it was not less the part of prudence…..St. Nicholas in Second Street, St. Rose of Lima in Cannon Street, and St. Teresa in Henry Street. There is also a remarkable church, remarkable for the ...””