Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan

Constructed from 1908 to 1909 and home to Manhattan's Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, this New York landmark is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The congregation was known as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church at the time this building was completed and the structure replaced an earlier brick church built in 1890 that proved to be too small for the congregation. The church is still associated with a local population of German-Americans who organized in 1888. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church was listed in the New York and National Registers in 2009 for its architecture, especially its stained glass windows. The congregation recently dropped "Evangelical" from its official name and is still an active congregation.

German immigrants to Manhattan's Upper West Side first gathered for worship in a storefront in the late nineteenth century. This small group incorporated in 1888 as the German Evangelical Lutheran Church and welcomed Dr. Ernst Brennecke as pastor in 1889. The church soon began to serve the community by providing a school in a storefront. A small brick church was built on W. 100th Street near Amsterdam Avenue in 1890. According to the church's archives, there was no public school in the district and children "roamed the streets at all hours." The church's pastor and organist taught classes in English during the week and in German on Saturdays. Masses were conducted in German.

The congregation saved up enough money to buy additional land and build a larger church on W. 100th Street, which was completed in 1909; the earlier brick church was torn down and the adjacent lot was added to the footprint. A three-story parsonage was built, attached to the new church. The architect, George Willard Conable (1866-1933), graduated from Cornell University in 1890 and initially specialized in church buildings. He was a partner in the firm of Hobart Upjohn from 1908 to 1914. He assisted Ernest Flagg in designing the Singer Building, and later designed a number of hospitals in collaboration with William E. Austin.

The congregation welcomed many Latino immigrants in the 1940s and provided sanctuary space for Chinese and French-speaking Haitian congregations in the 1950s. The church building was the only standing structure within 32 acres to survive after urban renewal efforts in the 1950s spearheaded by Robert Moses demolished its surroundings. The church had been included in the demolition plans but the congregation and Reverend Saunders fought against this for ten years and won the battle against Moses (ironic last name, don't you think?).

Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan (as it is called now, or Iglesia Luterana Trinidad in Spanish) prides itself on being welcoming to the LGBTQ community. On Wednesday evenings at 7pm, the church holds a weekly Night Prayer. The church also offers a special blessing to animals each October in celebration of St. Francis; the Blessing of the Animals took place on Sunday, October 3rd 2021 at 11am on the church steps. The animals were welcome to come inside the church afterwards that day for the mass. The current pastor is Heidi Neumark, who is also a published author about her experiences in the South Bronx and Manhattan. Neumark also serves as director of Trinity Place, their homeless shelter for LGBTQ youth.

Anonymous. George W. Conable, architect, World Biographical Encyclopedia. Accessed October 4th 2021. https://prabook.com/web/george.conable/1345487#.

Anonymous. Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan: One Hundred Years of Sanctuary on West 100th Street, Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan. Accessed October 4th 2021. http://en.tlcofnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/ONE-HUNDRED-YEARS-OF-SANCTUARY-ON-WEST-100TH-STREET-.pdf.

Manhattan Sideways. Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Manhattan, Manhattan Sideways. Accessed October 4th 2021. https://sideways.nyc/2016/06/trinity-evangelical-lutheran-church-manhattan/.

Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan. Our History, Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan. Accessed September 28th 2021. http://en.tlcofnyc.org/about-us/our-history.

Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan. Posts, Facebook page for Trinity Lutheran Church of Manhattan. September 29th 2021. Accessed October 1st 2021. https://www.facebook.com/TLCofNYC/.