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Highlights of Newark New Jersey Driving Tour
Item 11 of 21
The church building at the corner of Lincoln Park and Halsey Street, across from Lincoln Park, is the Catedral Evangelica Reformada. It was constructed from 1870 to 1872 as the Clinton Avenue Reformed Church. The congregation was formed in 1868 by members of the First Reformed Church. The church building ended up costing $200,000 and is large enough to hold 1,300 worshipers. The Catedral Evangelica Reformada was listed in the New Jersey and National Registers in 1972. It is the final Newark church building that was built in the early Gothic Revival style and was designed by a local architect, Thomas A. Roberts. The church may be vacant currently.

Photo of front of First Reformed Church facing north in 1971 (Geyer)

Architecture, Road, Infrastructure, Neighbourhood

Catedral Evangelica Reformada main entrance in 2014 photo by mdmhaefner

Building, World, Brickwork, Wood

Photo of newly-renovated interior of church from January 1904 local newspaper article

Building, Font, Symmetry, Landmark

Clinton Avenue Reformed Church (blue=stone) close-up on 1901 Sanborn map

Rectangle, Slope, Map, Font

Clinton Avenue Reformed Church (purple arrow) on 1889 Sanborn map

Map, Ecoregion, Slope, Font

Church building (red arrow, #3) on plan sketch map of Lincoln Park Historic District, from 1977 aerial (1984 NRHP, NJIT))

Map, Font, Parallel, Schematic

The first reverend of this church was William J.R. Taylor, who served from 1871 to 1890. The front of the massive sandstone church faced what was then known as Clinton Avenue, and the front of the church is inscribed "Clinton Avenue Reformed Church." The spire is near the street corner; the long side of the church, facing Halsey Street, features evenly-spaced large buttresses between large tall, Gothic-arched sanctuary windows. The finely-carved wooden pulpit bore the inscription: "We preach Christ crucified" in gold lettering. Before the church was built, after its organization in 1868, congregants worshipped and Sunday School was held above a butcher shop above West Kinney and Bleecher Streets.

Improvements were made to the chancel end of the church interior in 1903 to early 1904 to create a choir loft, in Black walnut and fancy oak. A new organ was built at this time, too. When the church was constructed, the pulpit had been perched behind a platform for the organist. The modifications in 1904 reversed this, with the pulpit closer to the congregants and in front of the organist and choir. If the choir loft wasn't large enough to hold a larger than usual choir, some could be seated in the gallery ends near the choir loft. The Reverend Dr. Daniel H. Martin headed the church during this era. He had remarked, upon the congregation's 25th anniversary celebration in 1893, that he was glad that the church did not have a bell because there was not much love of church in those who had to be rung to attendance; a longing in the heart to worship God was a higher calling. The congregation merged with the First Reformed Church in 1926.

The exterior of the brownstone building was restored in 1972, some of the subtle polychromatic stone had been damaged, especially that within easy reach of passers by. Besides its listing in the National and New Jersey Registers in 1972, the church building is part of the Lincoln Park Historic District, listed in the National Register in 1984. The district (map attached) is significant for its architecture and for having the most intact grouping of masonry (mainly brownstone, limestone, and red or orange brick) townhouses and frame Victorian structures in Newark. The district also is unusual in being primarily residential while being so close to the central business district. While most of the buildings are three-story, exceptions were the three churches and the neighboring high-rise to this entry's church, the 19-story medical offices building constructed at 31-33 Lincoln Park in 1927.

Gabriel Gonzalez was appointed as reverend of the church in 1984, after the congregation merged with the First Hispanic Reformed Church. By 2001, the church building was called the Iglesia Roca de Salvacion. The property is owned currently by the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal Roca, who purchased the property in 1993 from the First Hispanic Reformed Church for $300,000. The land and building are now assessed to be worth roughly $1.5 million. The church building appears to be closed as of 2021.

Anonymous. "Clinton Avenue Reformed Church." Newark Journal (Newark, NJ) May 29th 1893.

Anonymous. "Improvements in Clinton Avenue Reformed Church ." Newark Sunday Call (Newark, NJ) January 24th 1904.

Geisheimer, Glenn G. Clinton avenue Reformed Church, Newark Religion. Old Newark. January 1st 2020. Accessed January 26th 2021. http://newarkreligion.com/reformed/clintonavenuerdc.php.

Geyer, Donald W. NRHP Nomination of Catedral Evangelica Reformata, Newark, N.J. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1971.

Greenagle, Frank L. Newark Clinton Avenue Reformed Church, The New Jersey Churchscape. Photographic Inventory. January 1st 2001. Accessed January 26th 2021. http://www.njchurchscape.com/Clinton%20Avenue%20Reformed.html.

NJ Institute of Technology. Catedral Evangelica Reformada, Digital Archive of Newark Architecture (DANA). January 1st 2019. Accessed January 26th 2021. https://dana.njit.edu/items/show/467.

NJ Parcels. 27-29 Lincoln Park, New Jersey, Newark, NJ Parcels. Accessed January 27th 2021. https://njparcels.com/property/0714/119/21.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/72000773

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Entrance_to_Catedral_Evangelica_Reformada_at_Lincoln_Park.jpg

Newark Sunday Call, January 24th, 1904. Reproduced by Geisheimer: http://newarkreligion.com/photos/index.php?cat=92

Reproduced by Geisheimer: http://newarkreligion.com/photos/index.php?cat=92

Reproduced by Geisheimer: http://newarkreligion.com/photos/index.php?cat=92

http://archives.njit.edu/archlib/digital-projects/2010s/2010/articles/njit-naa-2010-0041-a.pdf