St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York

Date added: December 24, 2023 Categories:
North facade of church and parish house, looking south (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church was designed by the architecture firm of Tilton and Githens. The church is notable for its outstanding collection of stained glass windows designed by the Royal Bavarian Stained Glass Manufactory of Munich. Built in 1922-23 in the area west of midtown Manhattan known historically as Hell's Kitchen, the church is a key visual landmark of West 46th Street and continues to serve the social and religious needs of the congregation and the surrounding community.

The church on West 46th Street was the first building actually erected by a congregation that had been in existence since 1850. Prior to this, the congregation had leased or purchased existing buildings. St. Luke's was founded by a congregation of German immigrants with Rev. William Drees serving as the first pastor. The congregation originally rented vacant rooms on the third floor of a building on the northwest corner of 35th Street and Ninth Avenue. The congregation soon organized a Sunday School. On January 10th, 1859, the congregation adopted the legal name, "The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Luke's." In April of 1861 the second floor of a larger house on Eighth Avenue, between 46th and 47th streets, was rented by the congregation. In 1863 St. Luke's purchased a former Baptist Church on 43rd Street as their new home and made major renovations.

In little over a decade, the congregation outgrew the 43rd Street church and, in 1875 they purchased a former Presbyterian Church on 42nd Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues. By the early 1900s, the neighborhood around 42nd Street was changing. In reflecting upon its history in the 90th anniversary commemorative booklet, the congregation noted that, "Business was slowly moving uptown and crowding out the better residential areas. The amusement center, for example, once along the Bowery and then later on Fourteenth Street, was beginning to crowd into Forty-second Street .... Our fathers saw the handwriting on the wall for successful church work on Forty-second Street, which in 1911 had seven theatres in the short block between Seventh and Eighth Avenues." While the trustees had been authorized to sell the 42nd Street church as early as 1911 the move to their current location at 308 West 46th Street didn't actually occur until the early 1920s due, in part, to the challenge of raising the necessary funds for building a new church. There was also debate over finding a suitable site since many of the members had moved to upper Manhattan, the Bronx, Long Island, and New Jersey by that time. Ultimately, the congregation decided that it would remain near midtown Manhattan due to its central location and good transportation accessibility. The congregation purchased property on the south side of 46th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in the area historically known as Hell's Kitchen.

According to the Encyclopedia of New York City the former Hell's Kitchen, now called Clinton, is:

… bounded to the north by 59th Street, to the east by 8th Avenue, to the south by 30th Street, and to the west by the Hudson River. In colonial times most of the area was covered by forest and farmland. At the end of the eighteenth century, the Hopper family owned the land north of the Great Kill (which met the Hudson River at what is now 42nd Street); land south of the Great Kill to what is now 32 Street was covered by the Glass House Farm, which contained a glass bottle factory. During the first half of the nineteenth century, these properties were divided into lots; a railroad station opened at 11th Avenue and 30th Street in 1851, and soon there were slaughterhouses, warehouses, lumberyards, factories, and tenements throughout. The Irish were the largest ethnic group, and there were also Scots, Germans, and blacks. By the end of the Civil War the area was one of the worst slums in the city, known for … notorious gangs … The name Hell's Kitchen was perhaps taken from that of a gang formed in the area in 1868, or adopted by local police in the 1870s … The 9th Avenue elevated line was extended about this time.

Greeks and eastern Europeans moved to the area after 1900, followed by blacks from the South and Puerto Ricans in the 1940s. Several public works projects were undertaken in the 1930s including the West Side Highway, the Lincoln Tunnel, the New York Central Railroad West Side Improvement Project, and the Port Authority Bus Terminal; many families were displaced and tenements destroyed...; the elevated line closed in 1940. The rough-and-tumble reputation of the neighborhood was celebrated in popular culture …

St. Luke's was designed in "… the clerestory Gothic form of architecture" by Edward L. Tilton and Alfred M. Githens. The design by Tilton and Githens economically houses a church, parish house, parsonage, Sunday School hall, and recreational facilities all under one roof. Terri Cook, author of Sacred Haven: A Guide to Manhattan's Spiritual Places suggests that this may have been the first church designed by the firm who were known primarily for library and museum buildings, including the Wilmington Public Library (winner of an AIA Gold Medal for excellence in public work), the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore, the Currier Art Gallery in Manchester, NH; and the Museum of Fine Arts and Museum of Natural History, Springfield, MA. Tilton & Githens were in partnership from 1917 to 1932.

Edward L. Tilton (1861-1933) was born in New York City. He began his career in architecture working for McKim, Mead & White. In 1887 he went to Paris for three years of study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Prior to teaming with Githens, Tilton partnered with William A. Boring and, together, they were responsible for the design of buildings at the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island, including the Main Immigration Building (winner of the gold medal prize at the Paris Exposition in 1900), Kitchen and Laundry Building, Powerhouse, and [Old] Hospital. From 1904 to 1916, Tilton pursued a solo career designing libraries exclusively, including Carnegie-funded libraries across the country. In addition to being a successful architect, Tilton was well-known as an archaeologist. In 1895 he was sent by the Archaeological Institute of America to Greece to work on a restoration project.

Alfred M. Githens (1876-1973) was born in Philadelphia and received his B.S. in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in 1896. He then attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts while working as a draftsman for Cope & Stewardson during the years 1896-1901. In 1901 he went to Europe to attend the American Academy at Rome and stayed on to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned in 1903 and moved to New York City where he first worked briefly for Lord & Hewlett and then Cass Gilbert. Prior to establishing a partnership with Tilton, Alfred Githens, and Charles C. Haight launched their firm in 1904 and continued working together through 1916. After partnering with Tilton for 15 years (1917-1932), Githens and Francis Keally were in practice from 1937 to 1942. Githens was as well known for his writings as for his architectural designs, and his success with library buildings were reinforced by his publication in 1941 of The American Public Library, co-authored with J.L. Wheeler.

Tilton & Githens' design for St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church embodies the distinctive characteristics of the Late Gothic Revival style and its craftsmanship and materials are of superlative quality. The quiet, dignified, and smooth stone facade of St. Luke's is typical of the style in contrast to the busier High Victorian Gothic. In From Abyssinian to Zion, A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship, David Dunlap suggests that the design successfully weds both the Gothic and Art Deco. The somewhat streamlined appearance of the church facade and its emphasis on verticality are reminiscent of Deco but the detailed iconography over the entrance is purely Gothic.

Following the multiplicity of sources represented in late-nineteenth-century architecture, the Late Gothic Revival sought the protection, comfort, and liturgical correctness of familiar, traditional church design. The design represents the importance of fine architecture in expressing religious convictions. By the closing of the nineteenth century, architects continued to look to past styles for both stability and grandeur of scale. Increasing numbers of American architects trained in Europe like Edward Tilton and Alfred Githens, experienced first-hand both classical and Gothic sources. At the same time, architectural photographs, which began to illustrate building journals, offered architects a fuller sense of historic sources than had earlier illustrations.

The stone-facing, slate roof, stained glass windows, vertical proportions, and interior adornments are typical of the style. The interior space of the sanctuary expresses the emphasis on liturgical requirements of the Lutheran worship service. All of the decorative elements, such as the oak doors, the striking trusswork of the ceiling, and the stained glass windows are of high-quality design.

The original stained glass windows from the renowned Munich studios of the Royal Bavarian Stained Glass Manufactory are notable for their rich colors and detailed pictorial images. The studio was the family business of the Zettler family. "In 1928 there were 70 craftsmen employed by Zettler. Zettler, known for quality of design, retains clearness (of glass) in spite of its richness. Colours [are] full and pure . . . [with] conscious employment of the medium to realize harmonious, decorative effects."

While St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church is an architectural landmark it is also an invaluable social and religious institution continuing to serve the community. By the time the church was built in Hell's Kitchen many of its members had moved into the larger New York metropolitan area but the congregation remained committed to the neighborhood. In 1937, for example, the church established a boys' and girls' club for the neighborhood's underprivileged children. The former pastor, Dale Hansen, gained notoriety in the 1980s for asking the Guardian Angels to patrol the block because limited police presence allowed drugs and prostitution to thrive on the block. St. Luke's was a major participant in the 46th Street Redevelopment Association that was responsible for the renovation of Restaurant Row. The neighborhood, whose name has been changed to Clinton, has experienced something of a renaissance, with the renovation of brownstones, construction of new apartment buildings and stores, and the opening of several new Off-Broadway theaters, including one in the former Sunday School hall of St. Luke's. As the neighborhood has changed and membership has declined, the church has taken on some additional new uses including a NYC men's shelter in the bowling alley, a Montessori school in the gymnasium, and an office for Lutheran Immigration Services.

Site Description

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church is located on the south side of West 46th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues in Manhattan, New York County. Built in 1922-23 the building is located in the neighborhood historically known as Hell's Kitchen and currently called Clinton or Midtown West. The surrounding brownstone row houses that line the street have been converted to restaurants on the first floor; the street is now known as Restaurant Row. The entire lot of the St. Luke property measures 91'8" along West 46th Street and extends south 100'5".

The cornerstone for St. Luke's was laid on October 29th, 1922 and the sanctuary was first used on September 16th, 1923. The entire structure is of masonry construction (stone, brick, and concrete) for the sake of durability and fireproofing. The facade is finished in smooth random ashlar with cast stone trim and the rear elevations of the building are brick. The steeply pitched gable roof of the sanctuary is roofed in the original slate. The building consists of two main sections separated by a seven-story bell tower. The eastern part houses the church sanctuary, and former Sunday School hall and kitchen, while the western part accommodates the parish house and parsonage. The sanctuary block is 37' wide by 90'5" deep. The parish house/parsonage completes the frontage on West 46th Street but is only 63'8" deep as a section in the rear was deliberately kept open as a courtyard garden.

The parish house is five stories high and two bays wide. An engaged pier vertically delineates this portion of the facade. The first-floor facade of the parish house has a pointed-arch window opening in the left bay and a pointed-arch entrance with a pair of oak doors in the right bay. The second floor has pairs of original multi-light, double-hung sash in each bay which light the library, now the pastor's study. The wall above these flat-headed windows is ornamented with cast stone shields. The third floor has pairs of tall multi-light double-hung sash with cusped arches above. The fourth floor has groups of three flat-headed windows in each bay. The roof above the fourth floor serves as a balcony for the pastor's apartment. The facade of the parish house terminates with a battlemented parapet.

A square tower projects from the facade between the parish house and the church. The tower has narrow window openings at the front elevation. The verticality of the tower is emphasized by tapering stone piers and tapering engaged corner buttresses at the upper levels. Each face of the belfry has a pointed arch opening with stone moldings and small cast stone shields above and below. The tower has polygonal corners at the top which terminate in battlements. At the interior, the tower accommodates restrooms as well as vertical circulation with an elevator and stairs (on upper floors only for the pastor's apartment).

The facade of the church is most notable for its large expanse of glass over the entrance. Engaged buttresses frame the entrance and window opening. The upper facade rises to a steeply pitched front gable. The main central entrance to the sanctuary has nine wide steps leading to the narthex doors. The entrances are segmental-arched with single oak-paneled doors in the end bays and a pair of oak-paneled doors with leaded glass in the center bay. Detailed cast stone ornamentation in the form of moldings, shields, natural motifs, owls, shields with Christian iconography, and crockets are reserved for the area over the entrance. The four shields represent the symbols of the four evangelists with the image of an angel representing the Gospel of Matthew; the lion represents the Gospel of Mark, a traditional symbol of royalty and power; the ox, the sacrificial victim, represents the Gospel of St. Luke and highlights the priestly character of Christ's mission; and the eagle stands for the Gospel of St. John.

The stained glass window is divided vertically by stone mullions and features sections crowned by trefoil and quatrefoil tracery. This pointed arch window opening is filled with elaborate stained glass windows designed by F.X. Zettler of the renowned Royal Bavarian Glass Manufactory in Munich. These windows were installed during construction in 1923 and were recently cleaned and re-leaded by the Albert Stained Glass Studio during a major roof, tracery, and facade repair project by Solution Contracting in 2003-04.

Flanking the central bay of the facade are two sections of wall with segmental-arched windows at each floor and small slate-shingled pent roofs. A polygonal stone tower with battlements and a spire is located near the entrance at the east end. This entrance is a two-story front-gabled section with oak doors that open to stairs that originally led to the Sunday School hall beneath the sanctuary. Except for the awning added over the easternmost entrance in 2005, the exterior has changed little since it was built.

The east elevation of the church contains six stained glass windows and the west wall includes two stained glass windows. Four of these windows were produced by the Royal Bavarian Glass Manufactory. Two of the stained glass windows in the east wall were brought from the congregation's previous church on 42nd Street before it was razed.

A narthex is located along the north end of the church. This long, narrow space is barrel-vaulted with access to the balcony from the stair hall at the east end. The south wall of the narthex has a row of trefoil-arched leaded glass windows with oak trim and wainscoting. Oak doors lead to the center aisle and side aisles of the sanctuary. The sanctuary features a nave, side aisles, a chancel at the south end, and a balcony at the north end. The nave volume is tall and lofty with clerestory windows and impressive trusswork at the ceiling. Each bay at the clerestory has pairs of leaded glass, non-pictorial memorial windows with pointed arch tracery. Carved oak pews are on either side of the center aisle. The nave is visually separated from each of the side aisles by an arcade of five round piers with broad pointed arches. Above the piers are engaged columns from which spring the elaborately carved wood ceiling brackets. The vaulted ceiling above the side aisles is lower than the nave ceiling. The interior of the sanctuary retains its plaster walls which are stenciled as are the wood ceiling beams. The original chandeliers are also intact. A pointed arch separates the nave from the chancel. The square-plan chancel has a vaulted ceiling with ribbed moldings, paneled wainscoting, and an elaborate hand-carved wood altar.

The interior is notable for its outstanding collection of stained glass windows. Most of the stained glass windows at St. Luke's came from the renowned Munich studios of the Royal Bavarian Stained Glass Manufactory, ca. 1922. The studio was the family business of at least four generations of the Zettler family. The largest window is in the center of the north wall at the balcony level which is a memorial to the first two pastors of the church, Rev. William Dreese and Rev. William Busse. As preachers of the Gospel, they are remembered appropriately with depictions of the Four Evangelists. Also featured are two cherubim and two angels, richly vested with one carrying a chalice and the other a cross. That window is flanked by two smaller windows depicting Martin Luther (west window) and Philip Melanchton (east window), author of the Augsburg Confession.

The stained glass windows in the east wall depict (from left to right) Jesus ascending into heaven (moved here from St. Luke's former church on 42nd Street; provenance unknown), Jesus teaching in the synagogue as a youth (also moved from the 42nd Street church; provenance unknown), Jesus teaching the children, Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well (provenance unknown but may be Tiffany), and Jesus appearing to Mary at the tomb. The two stained glass windows on the western wall depict Jesus as the shepherd of his flock and the Nativity.

Sometime since its original construction the chancel area was elevated, a chancel rail was added, and the walls in the high altar area were stenciled with gold leaf. The only major change to the interior of the sanctuary occurred in the 1980s when the wooden chancel flooring was replaced with stone tile during a new pipe organ installation. The pipes from the original organ have been removed and the altar has been moved forward. Above the high altar is a 4' high wooden figure of Christ hand carved by Anton Zwang.

The parish house was designed to include complete community house facilities including two bowling alleys, a billiard room, a gymnasium, dressing rooms, and showers. The original plan also called for a swimming pool in the rear of the basement, but that was never executed. The upper floor of the parish house was reserved for a seven-room parsonage apartment.

As the neighborhood has changed and the membership has declined, the structure's uses have been adapted. The sanctuary and most offices are still used by the church, but the former Sunday School hall now houses an off-Broadway theatre, the gymnasium houses a Montessori school, the recreational area which originally included two bowling alleys houses a New York City men's shelter, and a large meeting room on the third floor of the parish house accommodates an office of Lutheran Immigration Services.

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York North facade of church and parish house, looking south (2006)
North facade of church and parish house, looking south (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Detail above church entrance at north facade, looking south (2006)
Detail above church entrance at north facade, looking south (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Detail of stonework above church entrance at north facade, looking south (2006)
Detail of stonework above church entrance at north facade, looking south (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Nave looking south towards altar (2006)
Nave looking south towards altar (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Altar at south end of church, looking south (2006)
Altar at south end of church, looking south (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Choir loft at north end of church, looking north (2006)
Choir loft at north end of church, looking north (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Large stained glass window above choir loft at north wall of church, looking north (2006)
Large stained glass window above choir loft at north wall of church, looking north (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window of Martin Luther on north wall of church (left of large center window), looking north (2006)
Stained glass window of Martin Luther on north wall of church (left of large center window), looking north (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window of Philip Melanchthon on north wall of church (right of large center window), looking north (2006)
Stained glass window of Philip Melanchthon on north wall of church (right of large center window), looking north (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window showing Jesus ascending into heaven, east wall of church, looking east (2006)
Stained glass window showing Jesus ascending into heaven, east wall of church, looking east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window depicting Jesus teaching as a youth, east wall of church, looking east (2006)
Stained glass window depicting Jesus teaching as a youth, east wall of church, looking east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window showing Jesus teaching the children, east wall of church, looking east (2006)
Stained glass window showing Jesus teaching the children, east wall of church, looking east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window showing Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, east wall of church, above door, looking east (2006)
Stained glass window showing Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, east wall of church, above door, looking east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window depicting Jesus appearing to Mary at the tomb, east wall of church, looking east (2006)
Stained glass window depicting Jesus appearing to Mary at the tomb, east wall of church, looking east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window showing Jesus as the shepherd of his flock, west wall of church, looking west (2006)
Stained glass window showing Jesus as the shepherd of his flock, west wall of church, looking west (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Stained glass window depicting the Nativity, west wall of church, looking west (2006)
Stained glass window depicting the Nativity, west wall of church, looking west (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York View showing clerestory windows and arches at west wall, looking west (2006)
View showing clerestory windows and arches at west wall, looking west (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Detail of stenciled trusswork at sanctuary ceiling (2006)
Detail of stenciled trusswork at sanctuary ceiling (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York South facade of parish house and church, looking southeast (2006)
South facade of parish house and church, looking southeast (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Entrance bay at south facade of church, looking southeast (2006)
Entrance bay at south facade of church, looking southeast (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York South elevation of parish house, looking north (2006)
South elevation of parish house, looking north (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Church narthex at north end of church, looking, east (2006)
Church narthex at north end of church, looking, east (2006)

St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church, New York New York Former gymnasium (now a Montessori school), looking south (2006)
Former gymnasium (now a Montessori school), looking south (2006)