★★★★★ 5.0
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Times Square Church
Right now, people from over one HUNDRED different countries are gathering inside what used to be Broadway's glamorous Mark Hellinger Theatre! This French Baroque beauty was built in 1929 by architect Thomas Lamb as the Hollywood Theater, and it's got 1,603 seats - that's like fitting your entire elementary school plus three more schools inside! When you walk through those doors, you'll step into a double-height oval rotunda with eight massive fluted columns holding up a domed ceiling that looks just like an 18th-century German basilica. Pastor David Wilkerson bought this former Broadway theater for up to 18 million dollars in 1991 to create Times Square Church, transforming a place where actors once performed into a sanctuary where the whole world comes to worship together every Sunday!
Did You Know?
- Times Square Church was founded in 1987 by Pastor David Wilkerson specifically to serve the marginalized communities of Times Square during a period when the area was notorious for crime, drug addiction, and vice—offering hope and support to sex workers, addicts, and runaways at a time when few other institutions would.
- The church is housed in the historic Mark Hellinger Theatre, originally built in 1929 as the Hollywood Theatre in a lavish French Baroque style by architect Thomas Lamb—making it one of the few churches in the world located in a former Broadway theater, complete with ornate ceilings and grand interiors that have been carefully preserved and restored.
- Times Square Church’s worship services are known for their vibrant, interdenominational character, featuring a famous jazz and gospel choir and regularly drawing worshippers from over 100 nationalities—creating a unique cultural mosaic in the heart of Manhattan’s Theater District.