St Peter's Roman Catholic Church

Spanish coins are still buried beneath your feet, placed there in 1785 by Ambassador de Gardoqui as he laid the cornerstone of America's boldest Catholic gamble. Standing before these six towering Ionic columns at 22 Barclay Street, you're witnessing New York's oldest Catholic parish... a church that wasn't supposed to exist here at all. The original builders desperately wanted to plant their flag on Broad Street, right in the beating heart of the city. But anti-Catholic hatred ran so fierce that officials literally banished them to this spot, then considered the wilderness beyond city limits. What those bigots didn't realize was that they'd just handed Catholics the perfect location to watch their forbidden faith bloom into an empire. King Charles III of Spain himself sent one thousand silver pieces to make this dream real, and by 1893, twenty thousand souls called this parish home. Inside these Greek Revival walls, designed by Thomas Thomas and John Haggerty, you'll find soaring spaces that replaced the humble 1785 original when the congregation literally burst through the doors... some parishioners had to stand outside during Mass by 1836. But this church's most sacred moment came on September 11th, 2001, when four firefighters carried the body of Father Mychal Judge through those great doors behind you. The FDNY chaplain, killed by falling debris in the North Tower, was laid on the marble floor before the altar... transforming this 240-year-old sanctuary into Ground Zero's first memorial.