As a Village landmark, I think the Judson Memorial Church is largely taken for granted. That's why it's a good idea to not always walk by it, as most New Yorkers do, but to stop for a minute every now and then and appreciate the Stanford White, Italian Renaissance, 1890s building. There's lots to look at.
OK -- be honest. Were you laying flat on your back when you shot the above pic? It's giving me vertigo! :D
ReplyDeleteNope. Just looked up, aimed the camera just so, and took a shot.
ReplyDeleteMy church! I still miss the parish hall - Judson House - in the back where Judson Gallery used to be and Yoko Ono did some of her early work, before the beatles ruined her. It should have been landmarked.
ReplyDeleteI worked on a show hosted by Judson earlier this year--such a beautiful place!
ReplyDeleteWonderful back story to Judson Church: it was built in a bit of noblesse oblige by the patrician WASP residents of Washington Square North for the poor Italian immigrants of the South Village. Was the church Catholic, as one might expect given the intended audience? No, it was mainline American Baptist and sponsored by John D. Rockefeller in a somewhat blatant attempt to convert the Popish Italians to good American Protestantism. Ahhh...paternalism!
ReplyDelete