NYC Scene: Another 2nd Avenue Cross

Epiphany Church, New York. Photo: LB

Epic leak from higher source:

Conquer Evil with the Force!

Aim above the red brick wall,

Toss One Ring to Rule Them All!

Here is another oft-seen, yet never consciously registered place on Second Avenue that I have discovered lately. The Roman Catholic Epiphany Church in Gramercy (239 East 21^st Street), a Modernist creation by Belfatto & Pavarini constructed in 1965-67, looks appealing in bright light, but at dusk its windowless façade stirs up thoughts of Mount Doom and Red Square. The original Church of the Epiphany of Our Lord was founded in 1868 on the site of Rose Hill, the mansion of Horatio Gates, the Revolutionary War hero and the victor in the Battle of Saratoga. This rather grand church with a single tower was designed by Napoleon LeBrun, who designed several other churches in New York and Philadelphia. In 1963 the church was destroyed by a gigantic fire. Four years later the new building on the same spot was dedicated by the powerful and controversial Cardinal Spellman. 

Epiphany Church, 2nd Ave façade
stained glass above the entrance

The Epiphany Peace Garden nearby is dedicated to the neighborhood people who died in 9/11 attacks. A plaque on the fence honors Tadeusz Kosciuszko, another hero of the American Revolutionary War and the leader of the 1794 Uprising in Poland. In America, Kosciuszko distinguished himself as a military engineer who constructed, among others, the fortifications at West Point. Kosciuszko participated in the Battle of Saratoga and served under Gates’ command, and a plaque commemorating his visit to Gates’ Rose Hill estate in 1797 was installed on the fence of the Epiphany garden. This plaque reads: 

Estate of General Horatio Gates (1728-1806) Victor of the Battle of Saratoga 1777

Major General Tadeusz Kosciuszko (1746–1817)

Colonel of Engineers in the Continental Army (1776–1784) – designer of the fortifications at West Point, veteran of the Northern and the Southern campaigns – the patriot of two continents stayed here 10–29 September 1797 – to visit his former commander – to renew friendships forged in the struggle for American liberty – & to mourn the passing of comrades-in-arms. He received here the sympathy & well-wishes of New Yorkers for his daring & gallantry in leading the Polish Insurrection of 1794 against overwhelming invading forces. He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few and rich alone. Thomas Jefferson to Gates 1798.

Erected 1997

Epiphany Parish * Knights of Lithuania * Kosciuszko Foundation * Pilsudski Institute * Polish-American Congress * Sons of the Revolution NYS 

Plaque commemorating
Kosciuszko's visit to Rose Hill in 1797

For the New York drivers, the Kosciuszko Bridge, first opened in 1939 and now doomed for demolition and replacement, is a frequent source of frustration as a bottleneck between Brooklyn and Queens. However, another Kosciusko Twin Bridge (on the way upstate a "z" got lost), over the Mohawk River near Albany and Saratoga, in my personal geography leads to happier places - to the Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks.

Photos: LB 2013