Central NYS congregations to open doors during ‘Sacred Sites Open House Weekend’

Central New York State’s magnificent historic churches and synagogues will participate in the New York Landmarks Conservancy’s fifth annual Sacred Sites Open House Weekend, May 16 and 17, when they will open their doors to New Yorkers and visitors alike to explore their extraordinary religious art and architecture. The Preservation Association of the Southern Tier is a proud sponsor of the Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House Weekend, recruiting 20 of the participating sites in and around Binghamton.

New Yorkers travel the globe to experience beautiful works of art and history.  During The New York Landmarks Conservancy’s Sacred Sites Open House Weekend, New York’s world-class houses of worship offer this experience at your doorstep!  Congregations participating in the weekend also showcase the cultural and social service programs they provide the wider community.

This year’s theme, “Celebrating New York’s Diverse Houses of Worship,” will focus on this rare opportunity for New Yorkers and visitors alike to glimpse inside many of the State’s religious institutions and view the artistic treasures of various faiths, styles, and periods.

“New York’s religious institutions are often the most beautiful buildings in their neighborhoods,” said Peg Breen, president of The New York Landmarks Conservancy, “but they are often seen only by their members. The Sacred Sites Open House Weekend allows everyone to enjoy the architecture, art, and history of these remarkable structures.”

The Conservancy’s Sacred Sites program is the only statewide program in the country providing financial and technical assistance for the restoration of culturally significant religious properties. Since 1986, the program has disbursed grants of more than $8.7 million to more than 700 congregations regardless of denomination.

Central New York State congregations participating in the Open House Weekend to date include:

Sites in Binghamton, Endicott, Endwell, and Johnson City have been coordinated through the great work of partner organization PAST, the Preservation Association of the Southern Tier.

Binghamton

– Ascension Lutheran Church: 324 Clinton St., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Constructed in 1910 and named for the Feast of the Ascension, closest church festival day to the dedication of the church. Early Slovak members were shoe and cigar factory workers. Stained glass art over front entry in Slovak translates: Church of Ascension into heaven, Christ the Lord.

– Centenary-Chenango Street United Methodist Church: 438 Chenango St., May 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. This 100-year old edifice is a landmark on the North Side of Binghamton. The stained glass windows are from the Haskins Studios in Rochester, N.Y. and are original to the building. Centenary United Methodist Church combined with Chenango Street United Methodist Church to form this church community. The interior has been maintained in its original appearance.

– Christ Episcopal Church: 10 Henry St., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Architect Richard Upjohn designed plans for this bluestone, Gothic style church in 1853. The oldest congregation in Binghamton, Joshua Whitney was an early member. Spire was added in 1903.

– Dormition of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church: 54 Baxter St., May 17, noon to 2 p.m. Three gold-toned domes dominate front facade of the church. Locally known as St. Mary’s Church, the first service was held in 1916. The congregation was established by immigrants from Galicia in Eastern Europe. Interior contains a unique Iconostasis and the vestibule is dominated by a spectacular mural of the Virgin Mary, the namesake of the church.

– First Congregational Church UCC: 30 Main St., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The church was designed by Isaac Perry, built in 1869, and enlarged in 1884.  Historic marker identifies site as Peterson’s Tavern where Binghamton was incorporated in 1834. Remains of tavern wall are still visible in the basement. Dominant front gable and side towers open to the sanctuary of fluted wooden columns and arches that support the clerestory.

– Holy Spirit Byzantine Catholic Church: 360 Clinton St., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Byzantine and Romanesque style with double-columned porch supporting lintel with inlaid mosaic decoration. Gold leaf domes support three-barred cross. Interior with marble and inlaid mosaic Iconostasis (Icon screen). Canopy over altar (baldachino) depicts in Tiffany glass, descent of the Holy Spirit.

– St. Michael’s Orthodox Church: 280 Clinton St., May 17, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. “It has been said that Icons are literally windows into heaven. Come and behold the glory of our Lord and His Saints through the magnificent Icons of St. Michael’s Orthodox Church,” said Father Dutko.

– St. Patrick’s Church: 11 Leroy St., May 17, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Isaac Perry was the architect in 1873. It is of Gothic Revival Style. Stained glass windows were crafted by Franz Mayer & Co., Munich, Germany. Celtic cast stone cross located on east front lawn of church. Presentation on the history of church at 11:30 a.m.

– Temple Concord: 9 Riverside Dr., May 17, noon to 3 p.m. Contemporary, one floor synagogue connected to Jonas M. Kilmer mansion. Kilmer was a member of Binghamton’s business community whose patent medicine industry included the famed cure-all called Swamp Root. Tours of the synagogue and mansion are available during the open house.

Elmira

– First United Church of Christ: 160 Madison Ave, May 16, noon to 3 p.m. Built in 1899 in the Romanesque Revival style, the church was built by German   immigrants to serve Elmira’s German immigrant population, largely centered in Elmira’s near East Side adjacent to the church, and was known as die Erste Deutsche Evangelische Kirche. The design reflects both the German heritage of the members and their Reformed/Calvinist theology and style of worship.

Endicott

– Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Nativity: 312 E. Main St., May 17, noon to 2 p.m. Entry to the church features intricately hand carved doors in wood showing the life of Christ. Former Vestal Art teacher and member, Eileen Fanning spent eight weeks carving the unique eight birch panels, which were part of a larger renovation that moved the entrance from the side to the front.

– St. Andrew’s Church: 400 W. Wendell St., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Originally built for the Methodist Episcopal Congregation in 1923, the present congregation moved here from Vestal in 2013. Five stones in the church yard commemorate members of the Methodist Episcopal Church who lost their lives in World War II.

– St. Anthony of Padua Church: 306 Odell Ave., May 17, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Established in 1917 by Italian immigrants, the present church was built in 1941 of blond brick in the Romanesque style with an 85 ft. bell tower. Today the diverse congregation still maintains many of their ethnic traditions. Above the main entrance is the Latin inscription that translates, “Enter this house of God, it is the gate to heaven.”

– St. Paul’s Episcopal Church: 200 Jefferson Ave., May 17, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. In 1911, George F. Johnson presented three lots on Broad and Jefferson Streets where the church would be later built. The windows in the nave were designed by Willet Co. & Keck studios, and depict the sacraments.

– Union Presbyterian Church: 200 E. Main St., May 17, noon to 4 p.m. The church has its origin in the migration of settlers to the area after the Revolutionary War. A log cabin church was built in 1791 as a Dutch Reformed Church, later becoming Union Presbyterian Church. The present edifice was built in 1907 of cut stone houses, the Doris Edwards museum to church history and Union.

Endwell

– Endwell Church of Christ: 3600 Country Club Rd., May 17, noon to 4 p.m. The building was constructed and designed in 1962 by a member whose granddaughter was recently married in the church. In addition to a classic auditorium and Fellowship Hall, the building includes classrooms, one of which houses a topographical map of the Lands of the Bible made of LEGO blocks.

– Endwell United Methodist Church: 3301 Watson Blvd., May 17, noon to 4 p.m. The church was founded in 1921 in the location where the old Hooper School was later built and became the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Endwell. The present contemporary building of brick has had several additions, including the 100-foot steeple installed in 1983.

Johnson City

– Community of Christ Church: 325 Burbank Ave., May 17, 12:30 to 3 p.m. The church was built in a contemporary style. Walls of sanctuary and narthex are of cherry stripping over brick and plaster. The interior plan is rectangular and focuses on dais.

– Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church: 230 Ukrainian Hill Rd., May 17, noon to 3 p.m. The unique style of the church’s design is Folk Architecture, typical of the wooden churches found in the Carpathian Mountains of Ukraine. The father and son of the Denysenko Family wrote the icons and built the iconostasis. Rem Bohutyn was the artist of the copper side altars and stations.

–  Sarah Jane Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church: 308 Main St., May 17, 2 to 4 p.m. Built of Hummelstown, Pa. brown stone, the church was constructed by architects J.C.Fulton & Son in 1927. The church tower is 112-feet high adorned with Carillonic Bells and can be viewed from all directions of the city. The church is a contributing component of the Johnson City Historic District.

– St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church: 1 St. John Pkwy., May 17, noon to 2 p.m. The church is designed in the Byzantine style with three gilded cupolas. At the front entry exists a mosaic of St. John the Baptist and monument to the millennium of Christianity in Ukraine.

Syracuse

– Church of the Saviour: 437 James Street, May 16, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and May 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Solemn High Mass 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). Church of the Saviour was founded in 1848 as the first freely seated church in the Episcopal Diocese of Central N.Y. and only the second in N.Y. State. In the 1880s the second pastor of the church was publicly criticized in the press for marrying “Negros,” Jews, and Native Americans. During the 1920s, Church of the Saviour welcomed Armenian refuges from WWI, and over the past 5 years has welcomed a new wave of Burmese refugees who have become an important part of the congregation.

– Temple Concord: 910 Madison St., May 17, 11 a.m. Temple Concord is one of the oldest Jewish religious congregations in the United States. Founded in 1839 by German-speaking immigrants drawn to upstate New York by the new Erie Canal, it grew and added members of Eastern European origins throughout the 19th and early twentieth century, and European refugees and Holocaust survivors after World War II. Today, the congregation represents the diversity of the American Jewish community, with congregants of Jewish ancestry from around the world and many members raised in other faiths who have chosen Judaism. The present building, the congregation’s second purpose built synagogue, was dedicated in 1911.

For more information and a complete list of sacred sites participating in the Landmarks Conservancy’s Open House Weekend, visit www.nylandmarks.org.

Sponsors of Sacred Sites Open House Weekend include Acheson Doyle Partners Architects, AIA New York Historic Buildings Committee, EverGreene Architectural Arts, Faith and Form, and Morgan Stanley. The event is the Conservancy’s part of the NYC Landmarks 50 Alliance.