Madison Square Presbyterian Church, ca. 1903-1906.

Madison Square Presbyterian Church, interior dome, ca. 1905.

Madison Square Presbyterian Church, ca. 1906. Designed by Standford White and completed in 1906 (just a few months after White was killed), the Madison Square Presbyterian Church was a High Renaissance style building. It replaced the 1853 Gothic church building that occupied the lot across the street at the southeast corner. The main entrance was reached through a portico supported by six light green granite columns, which were 30 feet tall. The building had a huge central dome, which was decorated in the interior with mosaics and Guastavino tiles. It also featured a number of Tiffany windows. The final feature of the church to be completed was the pediment (the triangle over the portico) which only had its heavenly themed terra cotta sculpture installed in 1910 (after this photograph was taken).

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.

Construction of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, 1906.

Madison Square Presbyterian Church, ca. 1910. The church was often referred to as the "Parkhurst Church" after its pastor, Reverend Charles Henry Parkhurst. It was the place of worship for a number of prominent early 20th century New Yorkers, including Tiffany, who as a parishioner, was given near complete artist freedom in the creation of the church's stained glass. By 1918, only 12 years after the new church was constructed, the congregation merged with the First Presbyterian Church on Fifth Avenue. Its wealthy community was moving further uptown. The demolition of the church began in October of 1918 and the plot was sold to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, who erected a 29-story annex to their main building between 1928 and 1950. An interesting fact about this short-lived church is the number of architectural details that survive today, elsewhere. The iron scrollwork light fixtures, carved pews, and a glass cross were moved to the church where the congregation relocated. Some small bits ended up with the family of Stanford White. The Tiffany stained glass windows (which Tiffany demanded be returned to him should the church ever close) are now in a wedding chapel at a hotel in Riverside, California. A doorway is in the collection at the Brooklyn Museum, a terra cotta block that topped one of the columns is at Ohio State University, and Hartford Times building in Connecticut has the 30-foot-tall green columns and portions of the cornice. One of the directors of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Robert DeForest, was also the President of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He had the pediment with its terra cotta sculpture moved to the museum. It was on display for some time until the building was expanded in the 1960s. No one wanted to fund the removal and re-installation of the 44-foor-long piece, so it was demolished.

11 Madison Avenue, ca. 1937.