St. Mark’s Historic District

St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street
John McComb, Jr., 1795-99; steeple: Ithiel Towne and Martin E. Thompson, 1828;
portico: attributed to James Bogardus, 1854;
parish hall: John C. Tucker, 1835; parish hall addition: James Renwick, Jr., 1861
21 Stuyvesant Street, 1803-04
44 Stuyvesant Street 1795
112-128 East 10th Street, attributed: James Renwick, Jr., 1861
23-35 Stuyvesant Street, attributed: James Renwick, Jr., 1861

The St. Mark’s Historic District encompasses portions of East 10th Street and Stuyvesant Street between Second and Third Avenues, as well as the campus of St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, Manhattan’s oldest site of worship. Stuyvesant Street was originally a lane separating two farms purchased in 1651 by Peter Stuyvesant, Governor of New Amsterdam. In 1787-93, Peter’s great-grandson, Petrus, laid out Stuyvesant Street and donated the land and funds for St. Mark’s Church. Located on the site of a 1660 chapel, under which Peter Stuyvesant and his descendants were buried, the present structure has a Georgian fieldstone body, Greek Revival steeple, and Italianate cast-iron portico. The district’s rowhouses date to the mid 19th century, constructed in elegant variations of the Italianate and Greek Revival styles. Referred to as “Renwick Triangle,” 112-118 East 10th Street and 23-25 Stuyvesant Street were designed by famed church architect James Renwick, Jr. The oldest houses on the street are 21 and 44 Stuyvesant Street, which Petrus built for his daughter Elizabeth and son Nicholas, respectively. When the City mandated a street grid adhering to Manhattan’s axis, St. Mark’s petitioned to keep Stuyvesant Street’s due east-west configuration because of its burial ground location. Thus, small triangles were created where Stuyvesant Street abuts East 9th Street, East 10th Street and Third Avenue. Each site is located in the St. Marks Hisotric District. The St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery is a New York City Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. 21 Stuyvesant Street, is also listed on the State and National Register of HIstoric Places.

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