Conservancy Interns Survey Bronx, Fight Fires
Bronx Survey Team Vermont graduate student Britta Fenniman, left, volunteer Ian Dull and Pratt graduate student Andito Lloyd.
The 1895 St. Augustine's, Morrisania, Bronx.
Firemen squelch flames at St. Augustine's.
This summer the Conservancy’s survey of historic religious properties returned to the Bronx to complete our survey of Bronx Roman Catholic churches, commenced in 2005, and to undertake a survey of the borough’s historic synagogues.
While we knew we’d find fantastic and little known architectural treasures – we had our most remarkable survey experience to date at St. Augustine’s, in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. It was Monday, June 29th, and the church planned to hold its last Mass in the 1894 sanctuary building that coming Sunday, July 5th. While the parish school and many programs will remain open, the large sanctuary will be sealed, pending eventual redevelopment – the congregation hopes affordable housing may be built on the site. As the door to the sanctuary was opened, woosh! Just beyond the narthex we saw flames shooting from the floor beneath the votive candles. The floor was on fire!
Sacred Sites director Ann Friedman called 911 while preservation graduate students Andito Lloyd (Pratt) and Britta Fenniman (University of Vermont), quickly ran downstairs to the church basement, to warn the individuals and families assembled in the food pantry just below the sanctuary floor, and to look for a fire extinguisher. In the meantime, Brother Benedict Kelley, the congregation’s fearless youth pastor, ran into the sanctuary, grabbed the enormous Holy Water font, and ran to douse the flames, which continued to smolder as the sanctuary filled with smoke. Reverend Thomas Fenlon, who had noted a votive burning on the floor, calmly circled the sanctuary, opening ventilators to clear the air.
Ironically, the parish, established in 1849, lost its first church to fire in 1894. The present church, designed by Louis C. Geile with Baroque and Renaissance Revival elements, is distinguished by two large bell towers, and is one of the oldest surviving Catholic churches in the Bronx. In the 1970’s, stained glass windows were removed, pews rearranged, and decorative finishes overpainted. Although the large sanctuary building will be closed, the parish and school will continue to serve the neighborhood.
Soon the firemen arrived, chopping open the floor to ensure that the fire was out. Happily, the sanctuary survived to host its final Mass that Sunday, and we proceeded with our Bronx survey.
Bronx Survey Statistics & Accomplishments: Summer 2009
Synagogues:
Note: We’d like to credit an invaluable Bronx synagogue survey resource: The field documentation and research completed by Prof. Seymour J. Perlin, Ed.D. posted on his Web site: www.bronxsynagogues.org
While Professor Perlin has documented the social history of the Bronx Jewish Community and its various synagogues over time, our focus was to identify purpose-built synagogues of architectural interest, which have not been irreversibly altered, and are still in worship use; i.e., synagogues which might be candidates for the National Register and for the Conservancy’s grant and loan programs
Number of purpose-built synagogues and former synagogues identified: 120
Number of these synagogues and former synagogues field surveyed: 74
Number of operating synagogues in the Bronx as of Summer 2009: about 32
Number of synagogues once operating in the Bronx: 256
(including house/ storefront synagogues & those that have been demolished, from Professor Perlin’s survey at http://www.bronxsynagogues.org )
Number of synagogues and former synagogues housed in former churches: 6
Number of notable synagogues demolished in the past decade: 6
Number of purpose-built, former synagogues with secular adaptive reuses: 19
Number of synagogue architects/ firms identified: 22
Number of synagogues built before 1920: 18
Number of synagogues built before 1930: 60
Number of synagogues built before 1950: 107
Number of post-1950 synagogues: 13
Jewish population of the Bronx, c. 1930: 585,000
Jewish population of the Bronx, c. 2002: 45,000
Roman Catholic Churches:
Completed survey of 72 Bronx Roman Catholic churches (survey initiated in 2005-2006)
Number of churches field surveyed: 45
Number of former Catholic churches closed, being adaptively reused: 2
Number of Roman Catholic churches for which architects identified: 31
Number of Roman Catholic churches built before 1920: 21
Number of Roman Catholic churches built before 1930: 36
Number of Roman Catholic churches built before 1950: 43
Number of post-1950 Roman Catholic churches: 24
