Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn -- 50 Monroe Pl History

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 50 Monroe Place, at corner of Pierrepont
Name: First Unitarian Church, originally Church of the Saviour
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights (Brooklyn Heights Historic District)
Year Built: 1842-44
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Minard Lefever
Landmarked: Yes

Minard Lefever was one of early Victorian Brooklyn’s greatest architects, once called the Sir Christopher Wren of America. In the Heights, he is responsible for Packard Collegiate, but is best known for his churches.

At one time, you couldn’t turn around without seeing a Lefever church in the Heights. Alas, most are now gone, torn down for Cadman Plaza, the Municipal Building and a bank.

Fortunately, no one touched this one, and it’s arguably the best, the other being Holy Trinity, on the corner of Montague and Clinton, now called St. Ann’s and Holy Trinity. First Unitarian is a beautiful Gothic style church that forms a strong anchor to Monroe Place.

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn -- 50 Monroe Pl History

He was inspired by the Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England, but the church is built in good old American NJ, ashlar cut brownstone. The interior is in the plaster Gothic style, and the stained glass windows are now by Tiffany and others, replacing in 1914, most of Lefever’s original glass windows.

The only original Lefever windows are the triple light windows over the side doors of the aisles. In 1995 the facade was expertly restored by architect Robert Meadows. Brooklyn Heights is known for its beautiful churches. This is in the top three. (Thanks Francis Morrone: Arch. Guide to Bklyn.)

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn -- 50 Monroe Pl History

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn -- 50 Monroe Pl History

[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. It is such a pretty church and so early in terms of date. The neighborhood’s Congregational churches and Unitarian churches were founded by New Englanders who settled in Brooklyn in the early nineteenth century. Both are offshoots of the New England Puritan tradition. The Congregationalists were aligned with the Yale Divinity School and the Unitarians with the Harvard Divinity School.
    This church building is a gem as is the adjacent chapel.
    Just a block away Lafever really outdid himself with Holy Trinity Church -a full-blown Gothic tour-de-force for the more showy Episcopalians.
    Francis Morrone writes very eloquently about all this in the book cited by Montrose.