German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark

German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark is a historic church and synagogue building at 323 East 6th Street between First and Second Avenues in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The Renaissance Revival style 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][3] Much of the church membership was killed in the 1904 General Slocum disaster, and the congregation never recovered.[4]

German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
(2009)
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
German Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mark
Location323 E. 6th St.
Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates40°43′37″N 73°59′14″W
Built1847
Architectural styleRenaissance Revival
NRHP reference No.04000296[1]
Added to NRHPApril 15, 2004

In 1940, the church was converted to the Community Synagogue Max D. Raiskin Center, an Orthodox Jewish congregation.[4][5]

General Slocum disaster

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.[6]

Preservation

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
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Brazee, Christopher D., et al. "East Village/Lower East Side Historic District Designation Report" New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (October 9, 2012)
  3. "Timeline of St Matthews". Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  4. 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. Ilana (June 15, 2011). "A Look Back at the General Slocum Disaster". Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
  6. "Zion St. Mark's: Our History". Zion St. Marks. Retrieved 1 December 2013.


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