Talk:St. Ann Church (Manhattan)

Building or parish?

Is this article about the church on East 8th St., or about the Roman Catholic parish which occupied the building from 1852 to 1870? Each has its own history. Vzeebjtf (talk) 21:16, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Also, the Lafort work doesn't mention a redundant Presbyterian church. It says the parish moved to 110 East 12th Street in 1870. That was the former Episcopalian church and Congregation Emanuel synagogue. Vzeebjtf (talk) 21:43, 8 June 2013 (UTC) The almanac listing for St. Ann's doesn't mention an Armenian church; it gives the address as 112 East 12th Street, which must be the same building as 110 East 12th Street. Vzeebjtf (talk) 01:20, 9 June 2013 (UTC)

OK, looking at the church building at 120 East 12th Street, David W. Dunlap's From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship (2004, which I've found to be well-researched and fairly definitive) shows this history:

• Built in 1847 as the 12th St. Baptist Church
• Bought in 1854 by Congregation Emanu-El, which moved there from Chrystie Street
• After 1862 the congregation builds a new synagogue on Fifth Avenue
• The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Ann's, founded in 1852, moves into the church (no date given, but 1870 would make sense)
• St. Ann's demolishes everything but the facade of the building, and Napoleon LeBrun designs a new French Gothic sanctuary, dedicated in 1871
• In 1983 it becomes St. Ann's Armenian Catholic Cathedral (in communion with the Roman Catholic church)
• (Not in the book, but easily established through reliable sources:) When NYU planned to tear down the church to build a dormitory, community protest stopped them, with the result that NYU preserved the facade of the building as a free-standing structure in front of the dorm building, which opened in 2006

Further:

• The St. Ann's Roman Catholic congregation's first sanctuary was on East 8th Street

• This building was built in 1811-12 on Murray Street as the Third Associated Reformed Presbyterian Churchl designed by John McComb Jr. in the G

eorgian style

• That congregation moves the structure to 8th Street at the north end of Lafayette Place
• 1852, building is rededicated for the new St. Ann's Roman Catholic congregation, which later moves to the 12th Street church (as above)

• 8th Street building is used as upholstery factory
• In 1879 converted to a theatre, which uses the names: Aberle's, Grand Central, John Thompson's, Monte Cristo, Comedy, Germania (1894)
• Torn down in 1904 for construction of subway

I'm going to take another look at the article, because I think some of this history has been distorted there in one way or another. Beyond My Ken (talk) 00:48, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

I believe I have straightened out the facts in the article, now sourced to a number of places, and cleared up the chronology. As it was, the fates of several different buildings were being conflated. (And, in fact, the history of this parish was conflated with St. Ann's Spanish Church (Manhattan) on 110th Street in the article on that parish.) This article is now primarily about the RC parish, but also tells the story of the building(s) it was connected to. Beyond My Ken (talk) 03:08, 10 June 2013 (UTC)

A very good solution. Thank you for your thought and work. Vzeebjtf (talk) 22:05, 10 June 2013 (UTC)