Chapel of the Sisters at Prospect Cemetery
Groundbreaking for Chapel Restoration
The Chapel of the Sisters at Prospect Cemetery will be restored to use as a community center.
Celebrating the groundbreaking were Dorothy Lewandowski, NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner; Helen Marshall, Queens Borough President; Cate Ludlam of the Prospect Cemetery Association; and Peg Breen, Conservancy President.
The chapel interior had gone unused for decades.
The Conservancy celebrated the groundbreaking for the restoration of the landmark Chapel of the Sisters at Prospect Cemetery in Jamaica, Queens, on April 4, 2007.
Conservancy President Peg Breen and Karen Ansis, who manages many of the Conservancy’s grant and loan programs as well as the Prospect Cemetery Revitalization Initiative, attended the ceremony alongside community and preservation groups, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and NYC Parks Queens Borough Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. City Councilman Leroy Comrie and York College President, Marcia Keizs, also attended.
The Project’s Partners
The Cemetery had been in need of attention and the chapel vacant for many decades when the Conservancy and two other nonprofit organizations, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC) and Prospect Cemetery Association of Jamaica Village (PCA), came together in 1999 to revitalize the cemetery. Each brings its own assets and complementary roles:
- GJDC, as a prominent community-based economic development group in Jamaica, is the lead sponsor for the project, and has been instrumental in providing site improvements for Prospect Cemetery and securing city funds for chapel restoration;
- PCA is composed of descendants of people buried in Prospect Cemetery and, with volunteers, works to clean up sections of the cemetery grounds and to garner support for the long-term conservation of the cemetery; and
- The Landmarks Conservancy has provided extensive administrative support and fundraising assistance, including: providing an Emergency Grant of $15,000 for roof and stained glass window protection; obtaining pro bono legal assistance from the firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to update the tax and organizational status of PCA with IRS and New York State; securing grants for the perimeter fencing of the Cemetery, a demonstration landscaping project, a marker conservation inventory, and the chapel’s restoration; overseeing the selection of the chapel project architect, Cutsogeorge Tooman & Allen; and assisting in the selection of the general contractor, Fame Construction; and helping with the day-to-day management of the chapel project and other parts of the Prospect Cemetery Revitalization Initiative.
The public partner of these three private, nonprofit organizations is the City of New York’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which owns Prospect Cemetery and which ably assists in its maintenance and management.
The Landmarks’ History
In 1857, Nicholas Ludlum commissioned the building of the Chapel of the Sisters as a memorial to his three deceased daughters. Situated at the eastern end of the graveyard, the chapel is a symmetrical, one-story Romanesque Revival building, approximately 40 by 40 feet, and 25 feet high. At each of the northern and southern facades there is a large stained glass rose window. (Over the years, these incurred great damage. The broken and remaining window glass were removed and put into storage in 1999, and the window openings sealed with wood and plexi-glass.) In its square proportions and somber materials, the chapel created an eloquent memorial to its namesakes. Once finished, the chapel became the main entrance and the focal point of Prospect Cemetery, as it was the most visible structure on the property.
Prospect Cemetery is the oldest family burial ground in Queens and one of the oldest in the five boroughs. Founded in 1668, its markers date from 1728 and comprise a collection of eighteenth, nineteenth, and 20th century gravestones. Prospect Cemetery is the burial site for many Revolutionary War soldiers as well as some of Queens’ most prominent families with names like Van Wyck, Sutphin, and Brinkerhoff. The cemetery, along with its beautiful chapel, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated New York City landmark.
The Funding
The 1998 Emergency Grant from the Conservancy kicked off a five year campaign to restore the small and elegant chapel. The Conservancy helped the project successfully apply for a $300,000 grant commitment from the Environmental Protection Fund of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in 2002. The fundraising has culminated in the closing of a grant of $50,000 from the Queen’s Borough President’s Office as well as $200,000 in City Council Commercial Corridor Funds secured through the Queen’s Borough President’s Office — the remaining funding needed to begin the restoration.
The total cost of the restoration is budgeted at $632,000. Other funding sources include a grant of $50,000 from the Historic Preservation Grant Program of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; $22,000 from The New York Community Trust; $5,000 from the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Fund for Historic Interiors of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and $5,000 from The 42nd Street Development Fund.
The Future
The chapel will be used for community events, meetings, and educational purposes in conjunction with the adjacent campus of York College.
Further information is available from the Prospect Cemetery Association.
