Four Sacred Sites in Manhattan Receive Renovation Grants

The New York Landmarks Conservancy has pledged a total of $81,750 in “Sacred Sites Grants” to four religious properties in Manhattan: Ebenezer Gospel Tabernacle Christian Mission in Harlem, St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Chelsea, St. Peter’s in Chelsea and Kehila Kedosha Janina on the Lower East Side.

The Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic properties in New York state, has been distributing grants to religious institutions through its Sacred Sites program since 1986. Congregations apply to the program to receive $1,000 to $50,000 in matching funds for exterior repair and restoration projects to their worship buildings, which must be on the State or National Register of Historic Places, or otherwise designated as a local landmark or contributing component of a historic district.

Among the latest grant recipients is Ebenezer Gospel Tabernacle Christian Mission in Harlem. The Gothic Revival church was built between 1889 and 1891, and its history reflects the changing population of the neighborhood. It was first built for the Lenox Avenue Unitarian Church, but as membership declined, it began hosting the Jewish congregation Chebra Ukadisha B’nai Israel Mikalwarie in 1919. As Jewish immigrants moved out of Harlem in the following decades, the Ebenezer Gospel Tabernacle Christian Mission, which had been founded in Harlem in 1911, moved into the building. Since 1942, the African American and Caribbean congregation has been worshiping in the building, according to Harlem World Magazine. The congregation also runs clothing and food distribution programs, which are estimated to reach about 400 people, as well as newly arrived migrants in the neighborhood.

Ebenezer received $7,500, which will be used for a $15,000 chimney reconstruction project that will allow the church’s new heating system to meet building code requirements.

In Chelsea, St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church has been awarded a $30,000 grant for its $325,000 project to replace its aisle roof, as well as an $11,250 consulting grant for construction drawings for the roof replacement. A German-born architect designed St. Paul’s 1897 Gothic Revival church, and it remains a center for German-speaking migrants, as services and programs conducted in German. It also hosts music performances with the Chelsea Symphony Orchestra and the German Consulate General of New York.

Also in Chelsea, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, familiarly known as St. Peter’s Chelsea, received a $10,000 grant for an $82,000 project to renovate a wall in its sacristy and to repair its roof. It also received a $13,000 consulting grant for construction documents needed for the project. The Gothic Revival church was consecrated in 1838, and now, the parish maintains a social services program, a Saturday food pantry, youth programming and music performances.

Kehila Kedosha Janina, a Greek Jewish Romaniote synagogue on the Lower East Side, was awarded a $10,000 grant for a $57,000 roof replacement project. It was erected in 1927, for a community of Romaniote Jews—who traced their roots to a Greek town named Ioannina, and whose practices are distinct from Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions—who prospered on the Lower East Side. It remains the only Greek Jewish Romaniote synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, and hosts a museum with a literary center and art gallery. Last year, it received a $4,000 Sacred Sites grant for a roof assessment.

In a statement, Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said, ”We are delighted that our grants will help these diverse congregations maintain their buildings and continue to serve their communities with social service and cultural programs.” The four grantees of Manhattan are among the 14 sacred sites statewide that received grant funding this month.