Moravian Church

In 1869, the First Moravian Church found its home on Lexington Avenue. It wasn’t always this building though. The congregation’s roots stretch back to 1748, when the Unity of the Brethren Church first formed in New York. Their initial sanctuary, known as Christ Church, stood on Fulton Street from 1752. A new Christ Church replaced it in 1829, still on Fulton Street. The First Moravian Church we see today had a different journey. Around 1849, they began worshipping at Mott and Houston Streets. After the Civil War, services were held in a Twenty-ninth Street home for three years. Finally, in 1869, they acquired this former Rose Hill Baptist Church building, later Madison Avenue Baptist Church. Interestingly, the Henry Erben organ within the First Moravian Church predates the building itself. Originally crafted in 1840 for the French Episcopal Church du St. Esprit on Franklin and Church Streets, it boasts a unique case adorned with carved, bronzed, and gilded palm tree columns. When the French church was sold in 1863, the Church of the Mediator purchased the Erben organ and installed it here. Over the years, the organ underwent several renovations. Thomas H. Wood rebuilt it in 1902, expanding its compass. Samuel O. Donelson undertook another rebuild in 1969. Most recently, Meloni & Farrier Organbuilders restored the organ, bringing it closer to Erben’s 1840 design. This included extending the manual key frames and Swell bass chest, a complex undertaking. The restored organ, with approximately 70% of its original pipes, was rededicated in 2015.