Ethos

Old Saint James Episcopal Church

Historic site · Elmhurst, New York

A New York City individual landmark, now Old Saint James Parish Hall, which LPC places "at the southwest corner of Broadway and 51st Avenue within the central district of Elmhurst, Queens." The designation report's header also carries the address 85-08 51st Avenue. LPC's summary reads: "It is New York City's oldest Church of England (Episcopal) building and the City's second oldest religious building that is still standing."

History

The deed was dated April 19, 1733 and signed by seventy-eight freeholders; the frame was raised in May 1735 and the church was completed in 1736. An 1882 newspaper account and a 1954 parish history record a separate room for enslaved people in the tower, reached by a "small stairway [that] led …to an upper room called 'the slave room,' which was directly on a level with the pulpit and had a window opening into the church." It was designated on September 19, 2017, and in 2004 was restored to its late 19th-century appearance with grants from the New York Landmarks Conservancy's Historic Properties Fund and other sources.

Visit

86-02 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY

Featured in these guides

More in Elmhurst

Tours and activities shown above earn Ethos a commission at no extra cost to you.