View source for Church of the Transfiguration, Episcopal (Manhattan)

{{Short description|Church in Manhattan, New York}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{For|the Roman Catholic church in Chinatown|Church of the Transfiguration, Roman Catholic (Manhattan)}}
{{redirect|Little Church Around the Corner|the 1923 film|Little Church Around the Corner (film)}}
{{Infobox church
|name=Church of the Transfiguration
| image = Church o the Transfiguration LC-USZC4-2657 crop vertical.jpg
| image_size = 275px
| caption = ({{circa|1900}})
|location=1 [[29th Street (Manhattan)|East 29th Street]]<br> [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]]
|denomination=[[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]]
|churchmanship=[[Anglo-Catholicism|Anglo-Catholic]]
|deanery=Manhattan
|archdeaconry=
|diocese=[[Episcopal Diocese of New York|New York]]
|province=[[Province 2 of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America|II]]
| website = {{URL|http://www.littlechurch.org}}
| embedded = {{Infobox NRHP
| embed                    = yes
| name                     = Church of the Transfiguration and Rectory
| nrhp_type                =
| coordinates              = {{coord|40.74526|-73.98598|region:US-NY_type:landmark|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin                 = United States Manhattan
| map_caption              = Location in Manhattan
| area                     =
| built                    = 1849
| architect                = '''[[lych-gate]] only:'''<br>[[Frederick Clarke Withers]]<br>'''all other structures:'''<br>unknown
| architecture             = [[Gothic Revival]]
| added                    = June 4, 1973
| refnum                   = 73001216<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
| designated_other2_name   = New York City Landmark
| designated_other2_date   = May 25, 1967
| designated_other2_abbr   = NYCL
| designated_other2_link   = New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
| designated_other2_number =
| designated_other2_color  = #ffe978
}}
}}

The '''Church of the Transfiguration''', also known as the '''Little Church Around the Corner''', is an [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal]] parish church located at 1 [[29th Street (Manhattan)|East 29th Street]], between [[Madison Avenue|Madison]] and [[Fifth Avenue]]s in the [[NoMad]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]], [[New York City]]. The congregation was founded in 1848 by [[George Hendric Houghton]] and worshiped in a home at 48 East 29th Street until the church was built and consecrated in 1849.

The church was designed in the early English [[Neo-Gothic]] style; the architect has not been identified.<ref name=nycland /> The sanctuary is set back from the street behind a garden which creates a facsimile of the [[England|English]] countryside and which has long been an oasis for New Yorkers, who relax in the garden, pray in the chapel, or enjoy free weekday concerts in the main church. The complex has grown somewhat haphazardly over the years, and for this reason it is sometimes called the "Holy Cucumber Vine".<ref name=fromatoz /> The sanctuary had a guildhall, transepts, and a tower added to it in 1852, and the [[lych-gate]], designed by [[Frederick Clarke Withers]], was built in 1896. Chapels were added in 1906 (lady chapel) and 1908 (mortuary chapel). The [[Edwin Booth]] memorial stained glass window (1898) is by [[John LaFarge]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://library.bc.edu/lafargeglass/exhibits/show/descriptions/all-saints-cathedral/transfiguration |title=Church of the Transfiguration |website=John LaFarge: Stained Glass in New England: A Digital Guide |publisher=Boston College University Libraries |access-date=May 29, 2020}}</ref> Other stained glass windows are by [[Karl Stecher]].<ref name="craig">{{Cite book |last=Susan V. Craig |url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/1028/BDKAversion2.pdf |title=Biographical Dictionary of Kansas Artists (active before 1945) |publisher= |year=2006 |pages=355 |language=en |oclc=779973315}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1924 |title=Karl Stetcher |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25591357 |journal=The Art News |volume=22 |issue=15 |pages=8 |jstor=25591357 |issn=0004-3273}}</ref>

In 1967, the church was designated a [[List of New York City Landmarks|New York City landmark]],<ref name=nycland>{{cite nycland}} p.80</ref> and it was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1973.<ref name="nris"/>

== Early years ==
In 1863, during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] [[New York Draft Riots|Draft Riots]], Houghton gave sanctuary to [[African Americans]] who were under attack, filling up the church's sanctuary, schoolroom, library and vestry. When rioters showed up at the church, Houghton turned them away and dispersed them by saying, "You white devils, you! Do you know nothing of the spirit of Christ?"<ref name=fromatoz>{{cite fromatoz}}, p.131</ref>

== Ties to the theater ==
Actors were among the social outcasts whom Houghton befriended. In 1870, [[William T. Sabine]], the rector of the nearby Church of the Atonement, which is no longer extant, refused to conduct funeral services for an actor named [[George Holland (actor)|George Holland]], suggesting, "I believe there is a little church around the corner where they do that sort of thing."  [[Joseph Jefferson]], a fellow actor who was trying to arrange Holland's burial, exclaimed, "If that be so, God bless the little church around the corner!" and the church began a longstanding association with the theater.<ref name=fromatoz />

[[P. G. Wodehouse]], when living in [[Greenwich Village]] as a young writer of novels and lyrics for musicals, married his wife Ethel at the Little Church in September 1914. Subsequently, Wodehouse would set most of his fictionalized weddings at the church; and the hit musical ''[[Sally (musical)|Sally]]'' that he wrote with [[Jerome Kern]] and [[Guy Bolton]] ended with the company singing, in tribute to the [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]] congregation: "Dear little, dear little Church 'Round the Corner / Where so many lives have begun, / Where folks without money see nothing that's funny / In two living cheaper than one."<ref>{{cite book |title=Wodehouse: A Life |last=McCrum |first=Robert |year=2004 |publisher=W. W. Norton |location=New York |isbn=0-393-05159-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wodehouse00robe_0/page/112 112] |url=https://archive.org/details/wodehouse00robe_0 |url-access=registration |access-date=December 13, 2011}}</ref>

In 1923, the Episcopal Actors' Guild held its first meeting at Transfiguration. Such theatrical greats as [[Basil Rathbone]], [[Tallulah Bankhead]], [[Peggy Wood]], [[Joan Fontaine]], [[Rex Harrison]], [[Barnard Hughes]], and [[Charlton Heston]] have served as officers or council members of the guild.<ref name=fromatoz /> The Little Church's association with the theatre continued in the 1970s, when it hosted the Joseph Jefferson Theatre Company, which gave starts to actors such as [[Armand Assante]], [[Tom Hulce]], and [[Rhea Perlman]].<ref name=fromatoz />

As well as being a guild officer, Sir [[Rex Harrison]] was memorialized at the church upon his death in 1990. [[Maggie Smith]], [[Brendan Gill]], and Harrison's sons, [[Carey Harrison|Carey]] and [[Noel Harrison|Noel]], spoke at the service.

== Rectors ==
The Little Church Around the Corner is known for the long service of its rectors: in the 150 years from its founding to 1998, there had been five.<ref name=fromatoz /> Jackson Harvelle Randolph Ray was rector from 1923 to 1963. John David van Dooren became [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.littlechurch.org/about/clergy-and-staff |title=Clergy & Staff |website=The Church of the Transfiguration |access-date=July 24, 2023}}</ref>

== Membership ==
In 2021 the church reported 193 members, average attendance of 56, and $231,772 in plate and pledge income.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Explore Parochial Trends|url=https://www.generalconvention.org/explore-parochial-report-trends|access-date=2022-12-02|website=Episcopal Church|language=en}}</ref>

== Music program ==
The church has long been associated with a program of free music performances. The [[Anglican]] tradition of a men's and boys' choir has been maintained with special music for concerts and summer services provided by a choir of mixed voices. In 1988, the Arnold Schwartz Memorial organ, a new [[tracker action|tracker]] [[pipe organ]], was built and installed at the church by C. B. Fisk, Inc.<ref>[http://www.nycago.org/Organs/NYC/html/TransfigurationEpis.html "Church of the Transfiguration", NYC AGO]</ref>

==In popular culture==
* A key scene, a wedding between characters played by [[Neil Hamilton (actor)|Neil Hamilton]] and [[Mary Brian]], in the 1925 [[Herbert Brenon]]–directed silent film ''[[The Street of Forgotten Men]]'' was shot at the church.<ref>[http://www.pandorasbox.com/films/street_of_forgotten_men ''The Street of Forgotten Men'' (filmography page) ]</ref> Parts of the church's facade and lych-gate are seen in the film, and the lych-gate is shown on one of the film's lobby cards.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gladysz |first=Thomas |title=The Street of Forgotten Men: From Story to Screen and Beyond |date= |publisher=PandorasBox Press |year=2023 |isbn=979-8-218-209858 |edition=1st |pages=158, 317}}</ref>
* The church is alluded to at least twice in [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Finnegans Wake]]'', as "tin choorch round the coroner" (67.13) and "ye litel church rond ye corner" (533.23–4).<ref>{{cite book |last=McHugh |first=Roland |date=2006 |title=Annotations to ''Finnegans Wake'' |edition = 3rd |location=Baltimore |publisher=Johns Hopkins UP |pages=67, 533 |isbn=0-8018-8381-4}}</ref>
* In 1986, the church was featured in an episode of ''[[The Equalizer (1985 TV series)|The Equalizer]]'' titled "Shades of Darkness".
* In [[Woody Allen]]'s ''[[Hannah and Her Sisters]]'', Allen attends a concert in the main sanctuary while attempting to convert to Catholicism.

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
|width=250
|File:Church of the Transfiguration interior LC-D4-17422.jpg|Interior of the church
|File:Church_of_the_Transfiguration,_Episcopal_(Manhattan).jpg|East end of the courtyard
|File:Little Church Around the Corner west courtyard.jpg|West end of the courtyard
|File:Church of the Transfiguration and Rectory, New York City, NY.jpg|Church of the Transfiguration and rectory}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Little Church Around the Corner}}
* {{Official website|http://www.littlechurch.org}}

{{East Side of Manhattan (14th-34th Streets)}}
{{Murray Hill, Manhattan}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:1848 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:19th-century Episcopal church buildings]]
[[Category:Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the United States]]
[[Category:Churches completed in 1849]]
[[Category:Churches in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Episcopal church buildings in New York City]]
[[Category:Episcopal Diocese of New York]]
[[Category:Gothic Revival church buildings in New York City]]
[[Category:Murray Hill, Manhattan]]
[[Category:New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan|Church of the Transfiguration]]
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1848]]