These are pictures of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City.  This is the current location of the church where James Waddell Alexander preached--the cousin who was the subject of my last post.  I took these pictures on my recent visit to New York City.  It is the largest Presbyterian sanctuary in New York City.  And it is truly beautiful inside. Much of the wood is hand carved and original.

Rev. Alexander didn't actually preach in this facility, however.  The church has had four buildings.  It was founded on Cedar Street in lower Manhattan in 1808.  It moved north to Duane Street in 1836 and further north to 19th Street & Fifth Avenue in 1852.  According to a brochure about the church, in 1873, the current church was built "on an undeveloped area just south of Central Park."

Some interesting tidbits:

• The clock is not electrical and has to be wound about once a week.
• There are no chimes at the church because it was built near a hospital & they were worried that chimes would disturb the patients.
• At the time the church was completed in 1875, its 286-foot high steeple was the tallest building in New York City.
• The rose window shown in the lower picture doesn't face the outside; there is a passageway behind it and a clear glass window of equal size & shape overlooks Fifth Avenue.

 

This is James Waddell Alexander (March 13, 1804 – July 31, 1859). He was the son of the Reverend Archibald Alexander of Princeton fame and Janetta Waddell Alexander.  Like his father, he attended Princeton and became a Presbyterian minister. 

Alexander was pastor in Charlotte County, Virginia; at the First Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey; and at the Duane Street Presbyterian Church in New York City, which became the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  He served at the latter until his death, which, tragically, occurred at the age of 55.  He had returned to Virginia because of poor health and died there of dysentery.

He married Elizabeth Clarentine Cabell and they had seven children.

He was my second cousin four times removed.