GREENSWARD FOUNDATION
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS

Home Tours/Lectures Books Maps Posters Pictures Contact

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters
International House
Riverside Church
Museum of the City of New York
The Asia Society
The Rockefeller University
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
United Nations
Greenacre Park
Museum of Modern Art
Rockefeller Center
Judson Memorial Church and Judson Hall
Chase Manhattan Plaza
26 Broadway, Former Headquarters of the Standard Oil Company
About the Authors
Rockefeller New York

A tour by Henry Hope Reed
Photographs by Esther Bubley


RIVERSIDE CHURCH

Riverside Drive between 120th and 122nd Streets

Riverside Church was built in 1926-1936 by Charles Collens of Allen & Collens, and Henry C. Pelton. This splendid church is one of the city's notable sights, particularly when viewed from a boat in the Hudson River. In the French Gothic, its inspiration is said to be the Cathedrals of Laon and Chartres.

The tower, it should be noted, is not merely an ornament -- it houses 22 floors of offices and chapels.

The tower is unusual, it stands alone, when they are customarily in pairs. Its height and size, criticized for being too dominant in relation to the body of the church, are very effective, especially when seen from a distance. It is 392 feet high and 100 feet square.

A south annex, appended to the base of the tower, was added in 1959.

It is the vertical effect, the soaring quality, which first captures attention, but the sculpture should not be overlooked. At the west entrance on the Drive the archivolts, or a series of receding arches, of the doorway are filled with statues, many of them Protestant leaders and social reformers as well as saints. On the inside, the narthex has a low-vaulted ceiling. The result is that when the visitor steps into the church, he is swept up by the height of the vault. There are no aisles, only one large, wide, nave. Very much part of the effect of the interior is the stained glass with its brilliant color, especially the reds and blues.

In addition, there is the admirable Christ Chapel, to the south of the narthex, in the Romanesque style. Anyone interested in the style will find it worth studying. It appears to be a replica of a chapel in Carcassonne, France.

After Riverside Church the tour can double back to view Grant's Tomb and go to the northbound lane of Riverside Drive. Just below the Drive to the north of the Tomb is the tomb of St. Clair Pollock the "amiable child," son of a former owner of the site.

The tour continues down Riverside Drive to turn east at 116th Street. Here there is a grade to Broadway. Crossing Broadway the tour goes into College Walk through the middle of the Columbia University campus. On reaching Amsterdam Avenue it turns south. It passes the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. On the list of the contributors to this fane, the second largest of its kind in the world, is the name of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

The tour continues to 110th Street (Cathedral Parkway) where it turns left (east) and continues north of Central Park to Fifth Avenue. The route is now down Fifth Avenue to the Museum of the City of New York.

Left: The Tower of Riverside Church from the 125th Street Station of the West Side IRT, line 1. Right: A wedding in Riverside Church.

Dog (above), man and woman on the phone, sculpture in Riverside Church.

Left: The Angel Gabriel on the crest of the apse roof of Riverside Church. Right: Christ seated in a mandorla with the symbols of the Four Evangelists, over the main entrance of Riverside Church.


Previous page Top of page Next page