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German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark

Coordinates: 40°43′37″N 73°59′14″W / 40.72694°N 73.98722°W / 40.72694; -73.98722
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German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark in 2024
Map
40°43′37″N 73°59′14″W / 40.72694°N 73.98722°W / 40.72694; -73.98722
Address323 East 6th Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York 10001
CountryUnited States
Previous denominationLutheranism
History
Status
Founder(s)Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew
Architecture
Architectural typeChurch
StyleRenaissance Revival
Completed1847
Closed
  • 1940 (as a church)
  • 1946 (as a congregation)
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
NRHP reference No.04000296[1]
Added to NRHPApril 15, 2004

The German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark is an historic former church and current synagogue building located at 323 East 6th Street between First and Second Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, in New York City, New York, United States.

Church building

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The Renaissance Revival style former church was built in 1847 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew which first rented it to St. Mark's and subsequently sold it to them in 1857.[2][dead link][3] By the end of the nineteenth century the congregation was in decline as congregants were moving elsewhere. Much of the church membership was killed in the 1904 General Slocum disaster, most of the victims being women and children, and the congregation never recovered.[4]

General Slocum disaster

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In 1904, The Ladies' Aid Society (Frauenhilfsverein) chartered the General Slocum steamboat for their summer outing on the East River. The boat caught fire and over 1000 parishioners perished in one of the worst disasters in the city's history. Thereafter Germans began moving uptown from the Lower East Side, primarily to Yorkville and abandoned the church. The parish of St. Mark's merged with the Zion Church in Yorkville in 1946 to become Zion St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church.[5]

Synagogue

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Sixth Street Community Synagogue
Max D. Raiskin Center
Religion
AffiliationModern Orthodox Judaism
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusSynagogue
LeadershipRabbi Gavriel Bellino
StatusActive
Location
Location323 East 6th Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York 10001
Architecture
Date established1940 (as a congregation)
Completed
  • 1940 (as a synagogue)
  • (previously a church)
Website
www.sixthstreetsynagogue.org

In 1940, the church was converted to the Sixth Street Community Synagogue, located in the Max D. Raiskin Center, a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation.[4][6]

Evicted from its former premises in 2013, located at 3 West Sixteenth Street, the congregation known as the Young Israel of Fifth Avenue,[7] subsequently merged into the Sixth Street congregation.

Building preservation

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The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004,[1] and is located within the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District, which was created in October 2012.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b Brazee, Christopher D. (October 9, 2012). "East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 3, 2012.
  3. ^ "Timeline of St Matthews". Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7., p.49
  5. ^ "Zion St. Mark's: Our History". Zion St. Marks. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  6. ^ Ilana (June 15, 2011). "A Look Back at the General Slocum Disaster". Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  7. ^ Eller, Sandy (February 1, 2013). "After Long Feud, Shul Evicted From 16th St". JewishPress.com. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
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