Building of the Day: 583 Throop Ave.
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: 583 Throop Avenue, corner of MacDonough St. Name: Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church Neighborhood: Stuyvesant Heights Year…
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: 583 Throop Avenue, corner of MacDonough St.
Name: Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church
Neighborhood: Stuyvesant Heights
Year Built: 1891-1895
Architectural Style: Neo-Gothic
Architects: Thomas Houghton
Landmarked: Yes
Why chosen: As far back as 1868, the mostly Irish parishioners of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church were raising money to build a new church. The Brooklyn Eagle has literally hundreds of notices advertising the many fund raisers the church held over the years. They had the site, owning over 30 lots of land along Throop Avenue, between MacDonough and Gates, and a temporary wood frame church and rectory was dedicated by Brooklyn’s most famous Catholic, Bishop Loughlin, in 1869. For many years, this would be the only Catholic church in the immediate area. But as more and more immigrants came to Brooklyn with Catholic backgrounds, the Diocese of Brooklyn grew by leaps and bounds, and Our Lady of Victory very quickly outgrew the old frame church. In 1890, plans for a new church were announced, the architect chosen was Thomas Houghton, who would later design the very different St. Francis Xavier Church in Park Slope. OLOV is a classic Gothic style church, but the building stone is quite unusual – dark Manhattan schist, trimmed with white limestone. The contrast between the dark and light, the use of the bedrock material of the city, was all this quite deliberate and symbolic? Most definitely, and the upper class and successful Irish congregation, were probably well aware, too. It is a striking building, and makes up an impressive complex, along with the adjoining rectory and school, all in the same materials. Today, the congregation is African-American, and the church is still going strong.
Postcard dated from 1907.
sorry — You not who
Amzi-
Who mean the domino’s tournament :)? I never knew that the game of Domino’s could be so all consuming
Blayze, thanks for the great history lesson!
Hey BSD, the Star of David was considered a more universal symbol of good will and humility before the 20th century, and of course it represented Jesus who was also a Jew, so many of them tried to incorporate that history into the architecture and decor. It was more than an iconic representation of the Jewish faith. If you do go throughout the Northeast, especially with churches built before the 20th century, you’ll find that many have the Star of David and other Jewish symbols on their windows or as a decoration in some other shape or form. The old wood frame town church in my native New Jersey, built in the 1880’s still carries a stained glass Star of David window.
It is only until after WWI do we see the major split of Jewish icons from Christian places of worship, mainly in Europe when the symbol became more linked to actual Jews (anti-Jewish propaganda was widespread, specifically Poland and the East well before Hitler) and then the rise of the Nazis who made it a mark of shame.
The same can be said for the swastika which is an ancient symbol for good luck in Asia. There’s even an old 1920’s rowhouse in Red Hook that has a swastika built into it’s brickwork, and a several more on some art deco buildings throughout the city.
@Amzi:
You aren’t talking about the guy who sells watermelons and pumpkins and all of his buddies are you? Those are the nicest dudes in the neighborhood!
@BSD: The hexagram pattern you see in the glass doesn’t always have a Jewish connection. It occurs in Islam and other Eastern religions too.
The church is quite beautiful. I have walked past it daily for the past 20 years. It used to have a tombstone in the churchyard for all the aborted babies. Is it still there? There’s a statue of Mary in the churchyard. The priest who recently retired caused a stir when he painted the face of the statue black. And lastly, when I first moved to the area, at Christmas time, the church would play snippets of Christmas carols on the hour. You could hear it blocks away.
So it was always a church, that’s interesting and makes me wonder why the apparent use of a Star of David in the glass.
Your right 11216. But I think it is good it might creep those guys out across the street that stand on the corner all day. Houghton also did the homes on Macon street right behind this church. A few of the houses still have the church stain glass windows.
Amazing church. A litle creepy at night, in a old London Werewolf way.