Wednesday, February 3, 2021 – A LANDMARK FOR RELIGION AND NEW YORK HISTORY

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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2021

THE 277th  EDITION

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

TRINITY  CHURCH

WALL  STREET 

Robert Wilvers, Trinity Church, New York, ca. 1956-1957, watercolor and pencil on paperboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Ford Motor Company, 1966.36.201

Trinity Church is a historic parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, at the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Known for its history, location, architecture and endowment,[5] Trinity is a traditional high church, with an active parish centered around the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion in missionary, outreach, and fellowship. In addition to its main facility, Trinity operates two chapels: St. Paul’s Chapel, and the Chapel of St. Cornelius the Centurion on Governors Island.[6] The Church of the Intercession, the Trinity Chapel Complex and many other of Anglican congregations in Manhattan were part of Trinity at one point.

The current building is the third constructed for Trinity Church, and was designed by Richard Upjohn in the Gothic Revival style. The first Trinity Church building was a single-story rectangular structure facing the Hudson River, which was constructed in 1698 and destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776. The second Trinity Church was built facing Wall Street and was consecrated in 1790. The current church building was erected from 1839 to 1846 and was the tallest building in the United States until 1869, as well as the tallest in New York City until 1890. In 1876–1877 a reredos and altar were erected in memory of William Backhouse Astor, Sr., to the designs of architect Frederick Clarke Withers.

The church building is adjacent to the Trinity Churchyard, one of three used by the church. Besides its building, Trinity manages real estate properties with a combined worth of over $6 billion as of 2019. Trinity’s main building is a National Historic Landmark as well as a New York City designated landmark.

Wall Street by Arnold Ronnebeck, 1925

The market’s up! The market’s down! While the financial markets try to regain their footing, I decided to see how artists have portrayed Wall Street over the years, and came across this interesting lithograph by Arnold Ronnebeck. Executed in 1925, Ronnebeck’s view of “the Street” creates a precisionist’s canyon of shadows and light. The buildings loom tall and have taken on larger-than-life personalities. From the viewer’s vantage point, it appears as if you’ve just landed in a new country or are about to embark on a monumental quest, one step at a time.

Ronnebeck was born in Germany in 1885 and died in Denver, Colorado in 1947. As a young man he fought in the German army during World War I, then studied art in Munich and Berlin before moving to Paris in 1908 to continue his studies with Aristide Maillol and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. When Ronnebeck immigrated to America he arrived in Washington, D.C., where he lived briefly before moving to New York City and finally settling in Colorado.

Ronnebeck’s fascination with downtown Manhattan is apparent in this lithograph. He often worked from photographs to capture the precise details of his subjects. What Berenice Abbott could do with a camera, Ronnebeck accomplished with ink and paper. Here the buildings loom tall and easily intimidate. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, as well as the steeple of Trinity Church. Of course, this image was made in 1925 . . . four years before the Street would take its record pounding.

Howard Cook, Trinity Church, 1950, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Barbara Latham, 1980.122.27

Kerr Eby, No. 1 Wall Street, 1930, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Katz, 1971.397

B. J. O. Nordfeldt, Wall Street, ca. 1907-1915,Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. B.J.O. Nordfeldt, 1974.10.24

WIKIPEDIA

Bird’s-eye view of Trinity Church, 1846

View from church steeple, 1872

PHOTO  CIRCA 1900

WEDNESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

Can you identify this photo from today’s edition?
Send you submission to 
ROOSEVELTISLANDHISTORY@GMAIL.COM

QUESTION OF THE DAY

What familiar name is mentioned in the history of Trinity Church and our island?

TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY

TOM OTTERNESS SCULPTURES AT 14th STREET  & 8th  AVENUE STATION.

LAURA  HUSSEY, CLARA BELLA, HARA REISER, GLORIA HERMAN 
GOT IT RIGHT!!!

Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
Roosevelt Island Historical Society
unless otherwise indicated

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TRINITY ARCHIVES

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