St. Patrick's Old Cathedral Complex, New York, NY

Cathedral Interior (photo by Don Perdue)

School and Convent Building (left), April 1861

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, West View (photo by Don Perdue)

Chancery

Prince Street Cemetery Wall

School and Convent Building After Restoration

St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was built as the original seat of the emerging Catholic Archdiocese of New York in 1809 when the new "Little Italy/Soho" neighborhood of New York City was the countryside to the then growing town centered on lower Broadway and the Wall Street area.  The Cathedral and its environs were the setting of the 1850's nativist violence against the immigrant groups who populated the local streets. 

The Cathedral was designed by Joseph Mangin with local Manhattan stone for the bulk of the façade with brownstone details dominating the east and west facades and the window surrounds.  A freestanding chancery building by James Renwick (who was to design the "new" cathedral on Fifth Avenue in 1866), in brownstone and brick, complimented the Cathedral and its walled cemetery where the remains of many Irishman who fought in the Revolutionary War were interred.  Across Prince Street stands the original Federal style orphan asylum built in 1826 that became the current Old Cathedral School. A rectory, built in 1870, completes this significant urban ensemble around which grew an important neighborhood of Old New York.

In 2001, The Trustees of the Cathedral approved a forty million, five-year project to restore the exterior fabric of the five designated landmark buildings and 8- ½' high brick wall coped with brownstone that surrounds the Cathedral and Cemetery. The first year effort completed the exterior restoration of the Cathedral, the Chancery, and the Convent/School.  Multiple layers of paint were removed from the masonry and the brick and stone were restored or replaced.  The roofs were probed to the original layer; the slate of the Cathedral was replaced and the original copper of the Convent was restored.  Window lintels, portions of the window surrounds, and the stained glass were painstakingly brought back to pristine condition.  All of this work was done under the approval of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Significantly, the 200-foot long stretch of the brick wall of the cemetery on Prince Street had "crept" into a sinuous and potentially dangerous curve on the verge of collapse.  To the delight of the neighborhood, the wall will not be rebuilt plumb and straight, but rather like the "leaning" tower of Pisa, the tilt will be arrested and the wall anchored from behind with a series of steel supports not visible from the street.  The Rectory and Youth Parish Center will also be restored.  The restoration activity has strengthened the focus of the congregation and the school; and in an important way galvanized the pride of the neighborhood by highlighting the architectural, religious, and civic importance of this complex.

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