Zion Episcopal Church

The complex, which is composed of the church, a parish, and a rectory, is historically significant due to the architectural integrity of its Gothic Revival style, as well as, its place as the oldest religious building in Dobbs Ferry. The church had many significant early members such as Washington Irving, a famous early American writer, and Peter Van Brugh Livingston, who was the first New York State treasurer. Livingston also donated land and funds that for the construction of the original Church, which is now the rectory.

The land of the church complex and later the village of Dobbs Ferry had been inhabited by various native groups for centuries, with the last occupants being the Weckquasgeek. These peoples were on the land until the early 1600’s when the land became part of the Manor of Philipsburg. The Philipse Family owned the largest tract of land in southern Westchester, stretching from the Bronx to the Croton River. Loyalists during the American Revolution, the family's land was redistributed after the war. In 1785 Philip Livingston, father to Peter Livingston bought the land on which the original church was to be located. The congregation of Zion Church met in the villages school house in the early part of the 19th century until the church's construction in 1834. In 1836, Reverend Dr. William Creighton, originally the rector for St. Mark’s church in New York City, resigned his post and became the rector of the Zion Episcopal Church along with two other nearby churches.

The Church has undergone a number of expansions but has retained the architectural integrity of its Gothic Revival style architecture. Its iconic tower was added in 1834 and the building was greatly expanded from 1853-54. The church gained its cruciform footprint in 1870 with the addition of rectangular wings and a chancel. Its most recent addition, a narthex, was built in 1963. The church’s interior contains both leaded and stained-glass windows, along with pews and an altar dating from the 1800s. 

The rectory is the earliest building in the church complex and likely the oldest surviving building in Dobbs Ferry, dating from 1783. It evolved from a simple wooden house to a three-story second empire style building in the 1870s. As of May 2020, the Rectory is clad in stucco, with a mansard roof and a carved wooden frieze over its entrance. Many of the interior fireplace mantles survive from the Federal style period. 

The parish hall, built in 1888, was the last building constructed in the complex, with additions to its structure made in the early 1900s. The hall was designed in late Gothic revival style, and like the Church itself, was later expanded into a cruciform footprint. Its brickwork matches that of the Church, having been built using ashlar masonry. The notable difference is the use of two different colors of stone; a brown pink and a later grey. Its interior have both stained glass and lead-lined windows.

Khan, Emily R. “Zion Episcopal Church,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, May 2020.

Sanzo, Susanne Dickinson. A Brief History of Zion Episcopal Church on the Occasion of its One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., Zion Episcopal Church, 1983.

Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Elmsford, N.Y., Westchester County Historical Society, 2003.