Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan)

For other churches with the same or similar name, see St. Thomas' Church (disambiguation).
St Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue
Saint Thomas Church in the City of New York
Map
Location53rd Street and Fifth Avenue
Manhattan, New York City
CountryUnited States
DenominationEpiscopal
ChurchmanshipAnglo-Catholic
Websitesaintthomaschurch.org
History
Founded1823; 201 years ago (1823)
DedicationThomas the Apostle
ConsecratedApril 25, 1916
Architecture
Architect(s)Ralph Adams Cram
Architectural typeGothic Revival
Completed1914
Construction cost$1,171,906.44 (equivalent to $35,647,759 in 2023)
Specifications
Length214 feet (65 m)
Width100 feet (30 m)
Nave width43 feet (13 m)
Height95 feet (29 m)
MaterialsKentucky limestone, Kentucky sandstone
Administration
ProvinceProvince II
DioceseNew York
Clergy
Bishop(s)Matthew Heyd
RectorCarl F. Turner
Priest(s)
  • Matthew Moretz
  • Alison Turner
  • Mark Schultz
  • Juyoung Prisca Lee-Pae
  • Luigi Gioia
  • Preston Gonzalez-Grissom
Honorary priest(s)
  • Andrew C. Mead
  • Andrew St. John
  • Mark Brown
  • Gina Gore
  • David F. McNeeley
  • Thomas F. Pike
Laity
Organist/Director of musicJeremy Filsell
Organist(s)
  • Nicolas Haigh
  • Maks Adach
Verger
  • David Bryan (Head Verger)
Armorial of Saint Thomas Church in New York City
St. Thomas Church and Parish House
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan) is located in New York City
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan)
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan) is located in New York
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan)
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan) is located in the United States
Saint Thomas Church (Manhattan)
Location1–3 W. 53rd St.
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°45′39″N 73°58′34″W / 40.76083°N 73.97611°W / 40.76083; -73.97611
Built1909
ArchitectCram, Goodhue & Ferguson
Architectural styleLate Gothic Revival
NRHP reference No.80002722[1]
NYSRHP No.06101.000442
NYCL No.0260
Significant dates
Added to NRHPApril 9, 1980
Designated NYSRHPJune 23, 1980
Designated NYCLOctober 19, 1966
A painting by George Harvey (1801–1878) entitled Nightfall, St. Thomas Church, Broadway, New York (c. 1837) currently in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York, shows the first Saint Thomas Church on the corner of Broadway and Houston Street

Saint Thomas Church is an Episcopal parish church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York at 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Also known as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue or Saint Thomas Church in the City of New York, the parish was incorporated on January 9, 1824. The current structure, the congregation's fourth church, was designed by the architects Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the French High Gothic Revival style and completed in 1914.[2] In 2021, it reported 2,852 members, average in-person attendance of 224 (due to pandemic restrictions) and $1,152,588 in plate and pledge income.[3]

In 2020, following a gift from the family trust of the late John and Mary Alyce Merrow, a camera system with a dozen 360-degree-rotating cameras was installed. Online attendance has remained significant; during Advent and Christmas, 2022, on-line participation was 38,000 with an average attendance of 25 minutes.[4]

The church is home to the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys, a choral ensemble comprising men and boys which performs music of the Anglican tradition at worship services and offers a full concert series during the course of the year. The men of the Saint Thomas Choir are professional singers and the boys are students enrolled at the Saint Thomas Choir School, the only church-affiliated residential choir school in the United States where the choristers make up the whole student body. Only three such schools remain in the world currently; the two Anglican Choir Schools are Saint Thomas Choir School and Westminster Abbey Choir School in the United Kingdom.

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Collins, Glenn (April 15, 2008). "A Gigantic Job for Window Fixers". New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2008. Now, in the most expensive restoration of stained glass ever undertaken in the United States, conservation is under way on the famous Whitefriars windows of St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It took ten years and $20 million to renew the splendor of 33 windows, with their 9 million pieces of glass.
  3. ^ "Explore Parochial Trends". Episcopal Church. Retrieved December 3, 2022.
  4. ^ Report of the Communications Department to the Vestry, January 25, 2023