Little Church Around the Corner
The Little Church Around the Corner, a low, rambling structure, seemingly all angles and corners, is on the north side of Twenty-ninth Street, midway of the block between Fifth and Madison Avenues. It is the Episcopal Church of The Transfiguration. Its picturesque title was bestowed upon it in 1871, when Joseph Holland, an English actor, the father of E. M. and Joseph Holland, the players known to the present generation, died. Joseph Jefferson, when arranging for the funeral, went to a church which stood then at Madison Avenue and Twenty-eighth Street, to arrange for the services. The minister said that his congregation would object to an actor being buried from their church, adding: "But there is a little church around the corner where they have such funerals." Mr. Jefferson, astonished that such petty and unjust distinctions should be persisted in even in the face of death, exclaimed: "All honor to that Little Church Around the Corner!" From that time until the present day, "The Little Church Around the Corner" has been the religious refuge of theatrical folk. For twenty-six years of that time, and until his death, the Rev. Dr. George H. Houghton, who conducted the services over the remains of actor Holland, was the firm friend of the people of the stage in times of trouble, of sickness and of death.
Lich Gate
The lich gate at the entrance of the church is unique in this country, and is considered the most elaborate now in existence anywhere. It was erected in 1895, at a cost of $4,000.
The congregation worshipped first in a house at No. 48 East Twenty-fourth Street, in 1850. The present building was opened in 1856. Lester Wallack was buried from this church, as were Dion Boucicault, Edwin Booth, and a host of others. In the church is a memorial window to the memory of Edwin Booth, which was unveiled in 1898. It represents a mediæval histrionic student, his gaze fixed on a mask in his hand. Below the figure is the favorite quotation of Booth, from "Henry II": "As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; a man that fortune's buffets and rewards has taken with equal thanks." And the further inscription: "To the glory of God and in loving memory of Edwin Booth this window has been placed here by 'The Players.'"
At Lexington Avenue and Thirtieth Street is the First Moravian Church, which has occupied the building since 1869. This congregation was established in 1749. In 1751 their first church was built at No. 108 Fair (now Fulton) Street. In 1829 a second house was erected on the same site. In 1849 a new building was erected at the southwest corner of Houston and Mott Streets. This property was sold in 1865, and the congregation then worshipped in the Medical College Hall, at the northwest corner of Twenty-third Street and Fourth Avenue, until the purchase of the present building from the Episcopalians. It was erected by the Baptists in 1825.
Brick Presbyterian Church
At Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street is the Brick Presbyterian Church, which stood at the junction of Park Row and Nassau Street until 1858, when the present structure was erected. The locality was a very different one then, and the square quaintness of the church looks out of place amid its present modern surroundings. There is an air of solitude about it, as though it mourned faithfully for the green fields that shed peace and quietness about its walls when it was first built there.
It is related of William C. H. Waddell, who, in 1845, built a residence on the same site, that when he went to look at the plot, with a view to purchase, his wife waited for him near by, under the shade of an apple tree. The ground there was high above the city grade.