Catholics make up over twenty percent of the population of the United States. However, there was a time when the novelty of a Roman Catholic cathedral in the country made it a tourist destination and an artist's subject. St. Patrick's on Mott Street below Houston was one of such churches.

Lady Chapel, St. Patrick's Cathedral ca. 1905 A sophisticated version of French Gothic architecture, this delicate little chapel attaches itself as a jewel to the coarser fabric of the cathedral proper. It reminds us of that period of medieval architecture when the builders were straining stone masonry construction to the limit in order to achieve new effects of lightness and daring.

Though it has been a couple of hundred years since New York was seized by the British, New Yorkers have always contributed to the defense of their country. Here are a series of photos from our partners' archives of New Yorkers during wartime.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, 1946. Construction on James Renwick Jr.'s massive Gothic Revival cathedral began in 1858 to replace the 1815-completed St. Patrick's Church on Mulberry Street. Church construction was paused during the Civil War and resumed in 1865. Dedicated on May 25, 1879, the church towered over nearly all of the built environment of the then sparsely developed neighborhood. The church rose even taller in 1888 when the spires were added to the Fifth Avenue facade. Between 2012 and 2015, a $177 million restoration project repaired the stained glass windows, restored the ceiling, and cleaned and re-cut stones of the spires. Some fun facts:🎉 The church seats more than 2200 people. It has three organs. The Archbishops of New York are buried in a crypt under the high altar. The Pieta is three times larger than the Pieta in St. Peter's, Rome.

The Chrysler Building, the Empire State, 30 Rock, and other skyscrapers adorn the skyline. At street level the solitude of the Public Library, and the glitz of Fifth Avenue. And underground, Grand Central Terminal ushers commuters in and out of the city. Take a walk amongst the sights of Midtown East.

In the closing decades of the 19th century, New York underwent a profound physical and cultural transformation. Fueled by the wealth of the exploding financial and manufacturing sectors, the city rapidly evolved into a world-class metropolis. The bold ambitions of civic and business leaders, architects, and engineers of the era manifested in landmarks such as the vast Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the stately U.S. Custom House, the towering Municipal Building, and the original terminus of New York City’s first official subway line—the ornate City Hall stop. The sweeping interior spaces common to all of these structures, and hundreds of others, depended upon a venerable Mediterranean building technology adapted to contemporary American construction: arched tile ceilings—or vaults—that were not only self-supporting but could also bear the weight of floors or roofs above them. These vaults were designed and built by a single New York firm, founded by Spanish immigrant Rafael Guastavino (1842-1908) and later headed by his son Rafael Jr. (1872-1950). The Guastavinos’ patented system for building domes and vaults involved multiple layers of thin ceramic tiles bonded with quick-drying mortar. The resulting structures were not only exceptionally strong, but also lightweight, easy to build, and inherently beautiful, thanks to intricate patterns of exposed tile that formed finished, decorative surfaces. Guastavino vaults figured prominently in more than 1,000 projects across the nation, including 200 in Manhattan alone. During its 73-year history, the Guastavino Company helped build some of the most impressive interior spaces in America—veritable palaces for the people. This list based on MCNY's exhibition Palaces for the People, contains many of Guastavino's masterpieces in the five boroughs, both those that remain and those that have been lost to the wrecking ball.

For much of New York's history, its Easter Parade was one of the most important parts of the Easter holiday. Starting in the 1880s, it quickly became one of the social events of the season.

With the United States entering the First World War in April of 1917, many U.S. social groups began raising funds to help support the troops abroad.

The St. Patrick's Day Parade, looking south on Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick's Cathedral, March 1942.

St. Patrick's Cathedral ca. 1883 In order to build a new Cathedral representing New York's status, John Hughes set about raising funds, seeking out one hundred wealthy Catholics to contribute $1,000 each to a start-up fund. He expected another $100,000 in contributions in the second year. A substantial mortgage and contributions from the parishes of the city would finance the remainder of the approximately $1,000,000 that was projected. Construction on the cathedral began as the New York economy slowly recovered from the setbacks of the Panic of 1857, but work was suspended in 1860, due to a lack of funds and to tensions leading up to the Civil War. Hughes died in 1864 before work resumed. Starting in 1867, the Archdiocese began assessing parishes sums ranging from $150 to $5,000 annually toward construction costs for the cathedral. These assessments continued until 1876. By 1871, more than $1,071,000 had been collected. By the fall of 1878, the cathedral was essentially complete, although the architect had scaled back his plans somewhat. The spires over the western twin towers shown here, perhaps inspired by those of the Cologne cathedral, and other optional details like the flying buttresses were left for succeeding generations to finish. Persistent shortfalls in funding plagued the cathedral construction project. In 1873, the trustees mortgaged the Archbishop's residence to help close the building deficit. A final fundraiser was a diocese-wide Grand Fair held in the completed but unfurnished edifice. The fair featured booths from each of the city's 45 parishes. The fair's program included advertisements from sponsors, such as Tiffany & Co. and Hecker's Self-Rising Flour. Opening night celebrations, lit by 1400 gas jets, drew more than 20,000 people, including Mayor Smith Ely and various other municipal dignitaries. Visitors paid the 25¢ admission fee and then purchased raffle tickets for donated goods in the various parish booths. Over the course of the 42-day fair, they could also visit the shrine of the Lourdes grotto or the floral pavilion created from cut flowers. The fair had attractions for all ages, including "Fish Pond" for children, a tobacco table appealing to male fairgoers, raffles with prizes such as a barrel of flour or a ton of coal at 25¢ a chance, musical entertainment, and food ranging from oysters and lobster salad to desserts. When the doors finally closed, the fair had raised more than $172,000. Not until 1910 was the debt on St. Patrick's Cathedral paid off. The long-delayed consecration, a five-hour ceremony conducted by Archbishop John Francis Farley and attended by a host of lay and ecclesiastical dignitaries including Papal Nuncio Cardinal Vannutelli, was held on October 5, 1910. Fifty thousand spectators crowded the streets around the cathedral to witness the blessing of the building.

St. Patrick's Cathedral ca. 1924 James Renwick Jr., son of Professor Renwick of Columbia College and himself as an architect, was probably one of the best-equipped architects in New York to undertake the stupendous task of designing a stone cathedral in Manhattan. The construction alone extended over a period of some twenty years, and the result was a fairly competent copy of a French Gothic cathedral, adapted to American needs.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Municipal Art Society surveyed historic buildings in all five boroughs to create a database of potential landmarks to preserve. Local residents and MAS staff compiled individual sheets devoted to about 200 buildings. Each sheet outlined the building’s date, location, and style and provided a description and a small photograph. This is the list of Manhattan buildings.

2019 has been as busy as ever at Urban Archive as we've added more locations, collections, and posts to the platform. Here are some interesting facts, stories, and images from throughout the five boroughs that we dug up along the way.