Middle Collegiate Church

The church was built in 1891 on a site directly north of the Isaac T. Hopper House, and was designed by the architect S. B. Reed, "'thoroughly equipped' as one guide said, 'with reading-rooms, gymnasium, and all appliances for aggressive modern church work'."[8] The stained-glass windows were of Tiffany glass.[3]

The church bell, moved to the current building in 1949,[9] was cast in Amsterdam in 1729.[4] It was known as "New York's Liberty Bell" because it was rung to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.[10] It also marked the inaugurations and deaths of American presidents, remembrances of the September 11th attacks, and other occasions, such as the death of King George VI in 1952.[11][12]

The congregation is known for its activism.[13]

The congregation was founded in 1628, and built its first church in 1731 on Nassau Street.[10] It is one of the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in North America. During the American Revolutionary War, when the British occupied New York, the Nassau Street building was used as a prison, a hospital, and a riding school. After the war it was converted back to a church, but became the city's main post office in 1844, a role it played for over 30 years.[10]

Meanwhile, the congregation built another sanctuary on Lafayette Place from 1836 to 1839. Called the Second Middle Collegiate Church, or the Lafayette Place Middle Dutch Church, it was an Isaiah Rogers-designed Greek Revival building with a spire, an unusual combination which provoked the remark that the spire was there to Christianize the pagan building below it. The congregation abandoned the building in 1887, and it was razed, but not before the bell was moved to the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas.[10] It returned to the Middle Collegiate Church – by now at Second Avenue – when St. Nicholas was demolished in December 1949.[9]

Other existing churches tracing their congregational founding to the same first Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of 1628 include West End Collegiate Church (built 1892), located on the corner of West End Avenue and 77th Street; Marble Collegiate Church, at Fifth Avenue and 29th Street; and the Fort Washington Collegiate Church, at Magaw Place and 181st Street. All are part of the Reformed Church in America.[1]

Burned out window

On December 5, 2020, a fire spread to the church from a neighboring building, engulfing the structure and leaving intact only the exterior stone walls.[6][14] The fire, the cause of which is under investigation,[15] took nearly eight hours to extinguish.[4][5] The roof collapsed,[7] the Tiffany windows were blown out and the sanctuary was destroyed.[4] Only the "Liberty Bell" and the exterior survived.[7][16] The tower in which it hung was also not destroyed.[13]

A senior minister of the church described the aftermath as "a gutted building full of smoke".[4] New York City Fire Department Assistant Chief John Hodgens described the church and an adjacent building as "total losses",[5][6] and their structural stability was being evaluated by engineers in the wake of the blaze.[17]

The fate of the church building was initially unclear, but the ministry will continue, and fundraising to rebuild commenced. Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged the city's assistance with rebuilding. Services have been conducted online since March 2020, and continued after the blaze.[5][16] The church was insured for fire, but as of Christmas 2020 required about $500,000 to rebuild.[7]

• Media related to New Middle Collegiate Church at Wikimedia Commons