Perhaps a stable isn’t the first place you would expect a church to begin. Yet, the story of St. Gregory the Great Church starts just this way. This Roman Catholic parish has a history that is deeply entwined with the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
St. Gregory the Great Church began in 1906. Cardinal Farley established the parish. It was meant to serve the growing number of Catholics. They lived on the Upper West Side between West 86th Street and West 93rd Street. Early services took place in an old stable. This stable was located on 119 West 89th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. By Christmas 1908, services moved to the site of the present church.
Elliott Lynch designed the current building. Construction was completed in 1913. The cost was around $120,000. The building was designed as a parochial school. The church occupied the ground floor. Cardinal Farley dedicated the school on October 19, 1913. The ground floor church was intended to be temporary. A permanent church was planned for the corner of Amsterdam Avenue and 90th Street.
During World War I, 28 of 700 parishioner servicemen died. Plans for a separate church were abandoned. Renovations to the existing structure began in 1918. The unused fourth floor became a rectory. An elevator was installed. A sky-lit gallery followed. Later additions included a library and roof garden with a fish pond. By the 1960s, nearly a third of the congregation was Hispanic.
Father Henry J. Browne’s two-year pastorate was a time of activism. The church became a center for the working class. It also opposed the Vietnam War. Parishioners took bus trips to Washington D.C. They attended peace vigils and anti-war protests. Father Browne championed affordable housing. He also fought a proposed Alexander’s department store on Broadway.
In April 1970, Rev. Philip F. Berrigan arrived at St. Gregory’s. He was wanted by the FBI for destroying draft files. Berrigan addressed a peace rally. While Berrigan stayed at the rectory, the FBI broke down the church’s door to arrest him.
In 1982, 90th Street in front of St. Gregory’s was dedicated as Henry Browne Boulevard.
The St. Gregory the Great Parish School played a vital role. Sister Louise Mary Mattimore was the first principal. The Sisters of Charity served the school until 1943. The Presentation Sisters then ran the school until the late 1980s.
The four-story building has statues of St. Gregory the Great and St. Sylvia above the doors. The ground floor church was gradually augmented. Reused works came from churches that had closed or been remodeled. Painted timber wainscoting was added. Mosaic portraits were installed. Stained glass windows enhanced the space. Father Gustave de Leon painted large canvas paintings of saints. These paintings reflect the Irish, French and German ancestry of the parishioners.
St. Gregory’s also ran a soup kitchen with Advent Lutheran Church.
On May 8, 2015, St. Gregory the Great parish merged with Holy Name of Jesus. On June 30, 2017, the church was deconsecrated. St. Gregory the Great Church stands as a testament to faith and community. It has a rich history on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.