Reverend Hugh Flattery, the founding pastor of St. Cecilia Parish, originally established St. Cecilia’s in a small chapel within an East Harlem resort hotel on 105th Street in 1873. The congregation soon grew too large for the chapel and a larger, more permanent location was needed. When Flattery died in 1879, his successor, Rev. Monsignor William Flannelly, kept searching until he found its current site. In March of 1881, Flannelly purchased four lots on East 106th Street. The residential-sized lots cost the church $25,800; about $665,000 today. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on September 9, 1883.

Designed in the Romanesque Revival style by the well-known New York architects Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, the original buildings of the Saint Cecilia Church complex include both the main church cathedral and the Regina Angelorum. In 1884, Rev. Flannery unexpectedly died, and the Church's new pastor, Reverend Michael J. Phelan, known throughout the Archdiocese of New York as the “Builder of Churches,” insisted on acting as general contractor of the construction. Le Brun & Sons drafted the overall designs and ornamental details and laid out the specifications for the construction. Phelan personally contracted the bricklayers, plasterers, carpenters and other builders and oversaw the project. His extraordinary ability to handle complex building projects reduced construction costs.

The Church façade includes a multi-arched entry that is supported by ten red granite columns. A large terra cotta relief of St. Cecilia playing an organ sits in an arched panel above the main entry. Octagonal tower turrets bookend each side of the front façade, creating an ornate example of Neo-Italian Romanesque grandeur.

No one is quite sure why the church was named after Saint Cecilia. Cecilia was thought to be a young Roman noble in the 2nd Century A.D. and is one of the most famous virgin martyrs of the early church. She is said to have been visited by angels with a commandment from God to remain a virgin, something the family of her betrothed was not too keen on. For her piety she was martyred, but not before marrying her betrothed, pagan nobleman named Valerian. During the wedding, Cecilia supposedly sat apart from everyone else, singing to God in her heart, and for that she was later declared the patron saint of music and of musicians.

Adjacent to the church, the Regina Angelorum was made up of two buildings: a tenement to house working women, built in 1884, and a convent, finished in 1887. In 1907, a newer front facade was built by architects Neville & Bagge to unite the women’s home and convent. In 2004, the site was repurposed as Cristo Rey New York High School.

Both Saint Cecilia’s Church and the Regina Angelorum were designated individual landmarks by NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission in 1976. The entire church complex is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. Read more about the Church Complex and the landmarking process at Historic District Council's "6 To Celebrate" project: https://6tocelebrate.org/site/st-cecilias-roman-catholic-church-regina-angelorum