★★★★★ 5.0
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St. Thomas Church
This Gothic masterpiece has burned to the ground twice, yet somehow keeps rising more magnificent than before. Standing at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street, you're looking at St. Thomas Church's THIRD attempt at permanence - and this 1913 limestone beauty finally got it right. The architects Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Goodhue, who also designed St. Bartholomew's nearby, created something extraordinary here on what was once just empty fields. That soaring facade hides 10,000 individual stained glass panels inside - more than almost any church in America. But here's what'll blow your mind: when the previous church burned down in 1905, only its 260-foot tower survived the inferno, standing like a lone sentinel while everything else turned to ash. Step inside and you'll discover three separate organs filling this sandstone interior with sound, plus hidden memorials to both World Wars and 9/11 that most visitors walk right past.
Did You Know?
- St. Thomas Church has survived not one but two devastating fires—the first destroyed its original Broadway and Houston Street building in 1851, and the second, in 1905, reduced its grand Fifth Avenue brownstone edifice (designed by Richard Upjohn) to a smoking ruin, despite the efforts of fifty fire companies; the church's resilience and rebuilding on the same prestigious corner reflect its deep roots in New York's social and religious history.
- The current St. Thomas Church, consecrated in 1913, is a masterpiece of French High Gothic architecture designed by Lee Lawrie and Bertram Goodhue, featuring a soaring limestone exterior, a richly detailed sandstone interior, and some of the most impressive stained glass windows in the city—making it a must-see for architecture enthusiasts and families alike.
- Despite its location once being considered 'in the fields,' St. Thomas Church quickly became the spiritual home of Manhattan's wealthiest families in the late 19th century, with Easter services so lavish that The New York Times noted few congregations in the city could match its numbers and display, cementing its reputation as a social as well as a religious landmark.