Calvary Baptist Church (Manhattan)

Coordinates: 40°45′55″N 73°58′42″W / 40.765197°N 73.978431°W / 40.765197; -73.978431

Calvary Baptist Church, a "skyscraper" church at 123 West 57th Street, between the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City
The "Gothic Tudor"[1] entrance to the building

Calvary Baptist Church is located at 123 West 57th Street between the Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and Seventh Avenue, near Carnegie Hall in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is an independent, non-affiliated church. The senior pastor is Rev. David Paul Epstein, the brother of television personality Kathie Lee Gifford. Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have worshipped at Calvary, and Billy Sunday and Billy Graham have preached there.[2]

The church was founded in 1847,[3] and its first sanctuary was at 50 West 23rd Street, completed in 1854. It then moved to a red sandstone Gothic church designed by John Rochester Thomas at its current location, which was built in 1883-1884. It also had a chapel at 223 West 67th Street, which was later used by St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church.[1]

The current building is an early example of an urban high-rise, or "skyscraper" church, a 16-story building which also includes the Hotel Salisbury, an apartment hotel. Planning for the new edifice began in 1929, with the design credited to the firm of Jardine, Hall & Murdock, and the building was dedicated in 1931.[1][4][5][6] The church's two Steinway grand pianos were donated to the church by pianist Van Cliburn, who attended periodically while living in the hotel.

Calvary was one of the earliest churches to operate its own radio station, in 1923, and has a long tradition of widely followed religious broadcasts.[7]

Senior Pastors

References

Nots
  1. 1 2 3 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.37
  2. 1 2 Bell, Charles W. "An old-time preacher" New York Daily News (February 14, 1998). Retrieved November 20, 2009
  3. ↑ "Calvary Baptist Church. A brief sketch of its rise and progress". New York Times, (February 15, 1875), page 6. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  4. ↑ Bergman, Edward F. The spiritual traveler: New York City: the guide to sacred spaces and ... HiddenSpring, 2001, ISBN 978-1-58768-003-8 pp194-105. Notes its history and that it is in a 16 story church/apartment building/hotel, owned by the church. Retrieved November 20, 2009
  5. ↑ Balmer, Randall Herbert and Silk, Mark. Religion and public life in the Middle Atlantic region: the fount of diversity. AltaMira Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7591-0637-6. Page 13. Briefly lists the modern Calvary Baptist structure as a "neogothic skyscraper" among important religious structures in the region. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  6. ↑ Watson, Edward B. and Gillon, Edmund Vincent. New York then and now: 83 Manhattan sites photographed in the past and present. Dover Publications; 1st Edition, 1976. ISBN 978-0-486-23361-1.pp164-165. Pictures and brief history of Calvary 1883 and 1929 buildings. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  7. ↑ Jaker, Bill; Sulek, Frank and Kanze, Peterr. The airwaves of New York: illustrated histories of 156 AM stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996 Page 168. WQAO went on the air 1923. One of the earliest religious broadcasters in New York. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  8. ↑ "History of Calvary Baptist" on the Calvary Baptist Church website
  9. ↑ "About the early history and the building of a new edifice" Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine Volume 13, 1883. Retrieved November 20, 2009
  10. ↑ MacArthur, Robert Stuart. "The Expositor and current anecdotes", Cleveland, Ohio. Vol XI, no. 7, April 1910, page 372. MacArthur had been pastor of Calvary Baptist 40 years, during which time he received 5000 members. He was an author, with 22 published volumes of sermons and compiled widely used hymnals. 10 persons were at the church's founding in 1847. Gives fairly detailed church history up to that point. The mother church had 2300 members, and 3 daughter congregations had been founded. Retrieved November 20, 2009
  11. ↑ "Rev Dr. R.S. MacArthur, founder, withdraws from membership because of sensationalism" New York Times (March 8, 1922), page 1
  12. ↑ "The modern dance". The Lutheran Witness Vol. XXXVI, no. 22, (October 30, 1917), pp 335-336. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, quoting Milwaukee Free Press (February 28, 1912), and St. Louis Post Dispatch (February 24, 1917). Rev. Joseph W. Kemp of Calvary says dancing of 150 years ago was ok, but modern dancing, in which a man places his right hand on a woman's waist, and holds her right hand with his left, while they dance the "two step," was a "shameless exhibition," showing that a man must have "degenerated in his morals" leading to "debauchery," which "violates the soundest hygienic laws. Retrieved November 20, 2009
  13. ↑ Giordano, Ralph. "Satan in the dance hall: Rev. John Roach Straton, social dancing, and morality in 1920s New York City" The Scarecrow Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-8108-6146-6. Extensive discussion of Rev. Straton's campaign against immorality and dancing, his use of broadcasting starting in 1923, and his renown as a fundamentalist. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  14. ↑ Lingeman, Richard R. "Sinclair Lewis: rebel from Main Street" Borealis Books, 2005. ISBN 978-0-87351-541-2. pp 267-268, 303: The American Mercury called Straton "the Fundamentalist Pope." Retrieved November 20, 2009
  15. ↑ "Religion: Calvary Baptist." Time (July 4, 1927). Notes the pentecostal meeting led by Uldine Uley, pupil of Aimee Semple McPherson and protégée of Straton. Five deacons objected to pentecostal delerium in the Monday night Bible class lasting until 2 am. Loud objections from her supporters led the deacons to resign and be criticized by Straton as trying to 'throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of the "Gospel train" of which he was the engineer.' Retrieved November 20, 2009
  16. ↑ "Religion: Blatant Staton" Time (August 30, 1928). Article on Staton's morality and fundamentalism efforts 1920-1928, leading to his debate with Presidential candidate Al Smith. Mentions his 1923 ouster of 29 members for an alleged plot to oust him, and the 1926 expulsion of 4 trustees who criticized him for accepting a salary from another church while on a long vacation. Mentions his "Girl Evangelist" Uldine Utley in 1927. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  17. ↑ Carpenter, Joel A. Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism page 46: In the 1930s and 1940s, under Pastors Houghton and Ayers, Calvary was a "pocket denomination" with Moody Memorial in Chicago and Church of the Open Door in LA, with newspapers, radio programs, missionaries, and Bible conferences.Retrieved November 20, 2009
  18. ↑ Balmer, Randall Herbert. Encyclopedia of evangelicalism Pp 39-40. "Ayer, William Ward (1892-1985)." Pastor of Calvary 1936,for 13 years. Church grew from 400 to 1600 members. "Morning Truth" broadcast widely heard. Fervent fundamentalist, but warned against being "too contentious." Anti-Communist, sometimes anti-Catholic. First president of "National Religious Broadcasters." Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  19. ↑ "Largo Has New Bible Church" St. Petersburg Times (April 22, 1961). Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  20. ↑ "Religion: twisting the devil's tail" Time (March 16, 1953). Notes AM radio station WQAO initiated broadcasting from Calvary in 1923. Says Rev John S. Wimbush continued radio ministry, and it was the "oldest continuing religious broadcast on the air," though the broadcasts by then were on WMGM.They continued to espouse fundamentalism. Church membership: 1500. Notes move to 17 story hotel/church in 1931. Notes the independent Baptist church has stronger ties to Southern Baptists than to Northern Baptists. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
  21. ↑ Olford Ministries International
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