Community Church of New York

Theater Names
728-30 Broadway in 1867
1865	Athenaeum (A. T. Stewart, owner)
1865	Lucy Rushton's Theatre
1865	(remodeled by James H. Hackett)
1866	New York Theatre (Lewis Baker and Mark Smith, managers)
1867	The Worrell Sisters' New York Theatre
1868	New York Theatre
1868	The Worrell Sisters' Theatre
1870	The Globe Theatre
1871	Nixon's Amphitheatre
1872	The Broadway Theatre
1873	Daly's Fifth Avenue Theatre (Augustin Daly, manager)
1873	Daly's Broadway Theatre
1874	Fox's Broadway Theatre
1874	The Globe Theatre
1876	Heller's Wonder Theatre
1877	Wood's Theatre
1877	Neil Bryant's Opera House
1877	National Theatre
1878	The Globe Theatre
1879	The New York Circus
1879	The Broadway Novelty Theatre
1881	The New Theatre Comique (Harrigan and Hart, proprietors)
As the Globe Theatre

The Church of the Messiah
The congregation's second church.
General information
Architectural style	“Semi-Gothic”
Location	728-30 Broadway, at Waverly Place, New York City
Inaugurated	2 May 1839
Destroyed	23 December 1884 by fire
Cost	$90,000

The Church of the Messiah
The congregation's third church.
Alternative names	Community Church of New York (as of 1919)
General information
Architectural style	Victorian Romanesque
Location	NW corner Park Avenue and 34th Street
Inaugurated	1867
Demolished	1930
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Carl Pfeiffer

The Second Congregational Church in New York
The congregation's first church.
General information
Architectural style	Greek Revival
Location	NW corner of Mercer and Prince Streets
Inaugurated	Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, 7 December 1826
Destroyed	Sunday morning, the 26 November 1837 (burned to ground)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Josiah R. Brady

The Second Congregational Church in New York, organized in 1825, was a Unitarian congregation which had three permanent homes in Manhattan, the second of which became a theater after they left it. In 1919 the congregation became non-denominational and changed its name to Community Church of New York. The same year, its church on 34th Street was damaged by fire. Since 1948 the congregation has been located at 40 East 35th Street, in a sanctuary shared with the Metropolitan Synagogue of New York.

The Church of the Messiah at 728-730 Broadway, near Waverly Place, was dedicated in 1839 and operated as such until 1864. In January 1865 it was sold to department store magnate A. T. Stewart and converted into a theater which subsequently operated under a series of names, ending with The New Theatre Comique. It burned down in 1884.

Further reading

• Brown, Thomas Allston A History of the New York Stage: From the First Performance in 1732 to 1901, Vol. 2 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company; 1903)
• CCNY: The Community Church of New York website (accessed 18 June 2013)
• Dewey, Mary Autobiography and Letters of Orville Dewey, D.D. Edited by his Daughter (Project Gutenberg™, 2006, e-book; epub-format version)
• Dunlap, David W. From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), p. 48 (e-book p. 126), "Community Church in New York|Metropolitan Synagogue in New York;" Map E (e-book pp. 37–8); and Map H (e-book p. 44)
• Greenleaf, Jonathan A History of the Churches, of All Denominations, in the City of New York (New York: E. French, 1846)
• IBDB: "New Theatre Comique" at the Internet Broadway Data Base (accessed April 25, 2010)
• MPW: "Church of the Messiah" (scroll down), Manhattan Places of Worship (web page; accessed 1 January 2014)
• NYT-1: "Church of Messiah Adopts New Name," The New York Times, 26 May 1919
• NYT-2: "To Restore Burned Church," The New York Times, 13 September 1919
• Perris, William Maps of the City of New York, Vol. 5. (New York: Perris & Browne, 1854) Plate 61. At New York Public Library Digital Gallery Image ID: 1615960 (search on number)
• Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; and Fishman, David. New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age (New York: The Monacelli Press, 1999)