St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church

The Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary was a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 211 East 83rd Street, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. St. Elizabeth's was founded by Slovakian immigrants on the Lower East Side in 1891, and the Upper East Side building was completed in 1918. The Archdiocese of New York issued a decree to close the church on June 30, 2017.

History

St. Elizabeth's was founded by Slovakian immigrants on the Lower East Side, with the first Mass celebrated on April 26, 1891, in the basement of St. Bridget's Church on 8th Street and Avenue B. The first church building was located 345 East 4th Street, which hosted its first Mass on August 7, 1892. A special feature of The New York Times in 1901, mentioned the church, listed as "the Hungarian church," among other Catholic structures in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, describing the group "for the most part...limit[ing] themselves to the functions of a parish church, in districts where social needs are otherwise supplied." Without comment on other facilities attached.

As parishioners relocated, it became necessary to move the parish. The former Second Emmanuel Lutheran Church church on East 83rd Street, built in 1892, became the new home for St. Elizabeth's on June 7, 1917. It underwent several expansions in the following decades.

As the local Slovak population declined later in the 20th century, Cardinal Cooke redesignated it as a church for the deaf Catholics of New York on July 1, 1980.

In November 2014, the Archdiocese announced that the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary was one of 31 neighborhood parishes which would be merged into other parishes. St. Elizabeth of Hungary and St. Stephen of Hungary were to be merged into the Church of St. Monica at 413 East 79th Street.

The Archdiocese of New York issued a decree to close the church on June 30, 2017. This decision, along with the earlier decision to merge, was appealed to the Vatican by parishioners. While the appeals were still pending, the property was contracted for sale for $11.8M by the Diocese to Robert Saffayeh Development. Removal of religious items from the church began on May 28, 2024.

The church had earlier been considered for, but did not receive, landmark status from the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Building

The AIA Guide to NYC (Fifth Edition, 2010), neglects to mention an architect, describing the Gothic Revival church as "a classy, spired neo-Gothic exterior, but the treat is within: ascent the stairs to view a just heavenly groin-vaulted ceiling painted in the colors of Ravenna's mosaics."

References

External links

• Church of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary official site