Photo of the Day: St. Paul's Chapel, Lower Manhattan

St. Paul’s Chapel, part of the Episcopal parish of Trinity Wall Street, was famous for a long time as the house of worship where George Washington prayed after his inauguration as the first President of the United States in 1789. But a formative experience in 1776, only a decade after the church's founding, might have given it greater preparation for its more recent renown.

Four years ago, a leather fire bucket was discovered in the venerable church’s steeple—evidence of a bucket brigade of men, women and children formed to save it from “The Great Fire” that broke out in the early days of the American Revolution.

On September 11, 2001, the church had an even more searing brush with disaster. Only a sycamore tree in its cemetery protected it from destruction when the World Trade Center across the street was destroyed. For the following eight months, the church became a haven for recovery workers, who often rested in the pews.

I took this photograph this past Monday, on my way to see the 9/11 Memorial. New York City, and especially Lower Manhattan, has remade itself several times over the years--including since 9/11--but St. Paul's Chapel endures.

Photo of the Day: St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University

I took this photo of St. Paul’s Chapel while visiting my alma mater, Columbia University, a month ago. I was surprised to learn that this building, adapted from the Northern Renaissance style, was not part of the original 1894 plan for the university designed by architect Charles McKim—that’s how seemlessly it fits into the overall complex. (For the record, it was designed by I. N. Phelps Stokes, who had studied at Columbia.) 

Today, St. Paul is used for all kinds of worship services, concerts, university and private ceremonies, in a distant echo of the university’s origin as an Anglican institution of higher learning, in 1754. Over the years, it has richly merited its 1966 designation as one of the first city buildings listed as an official landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Oddly enough, I seldom spent any time inside this beautiful structure while I was attending the school—not because of any secular leanings, but simply because, as a commuting student, I was seldom on the grounds on weekends. It was only after I graduated over 30 years ago, and I found myself on Sundays in one of the campus libraries, doing research, that I made it a point to attend late-afternoon Catholic services. It was really then that I became enthralled by the beauty of this small architectural gem.