All Saints Church Briarcliff Manor

All Saints Episcopal Church. Just around the corner from my house (about a five-minute walk). The church building was designed by architect Richard Upjohn and built between 1848 and 1854. The church was modeled on Saint Andrew’s in Bemerton, England, just a short walk away from famous Salisbury Cathedral. It’s now the oldest functioning church in Briarcliff Manor. St. Mary’s is a little older but has been closed since July 2015.






All but the first and last taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 35-105 f3.5-4.5. The first was taken with a Fuji X-E1 and Fuji XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OSS II. I have no idea what camera the last one was taken with.

A Recent Concert

Some friends recently invited me to join them for a performance by the Young New Yorkers Chorus (YNYC) Treble Ensemble. It took place in the Church of St. Mary The Virgin in Manhattan.

Not being familiar with the group, I didn’t have high expectations. However, the performance was excellent, and I really enjoyed it.








Taken with my friend’s iPhone. I’d don’t remember which model.

A Visit to Cold Spring, NY – Chapel of our Lady Restoration

Situated on a rise right next to the Cold Spring Metro North Station and the Hudson, this picturesque chapel has an amazing view across the river.

According to the restoration website (which also has some interesting old pictures).

Like most American stories, ours begins with immigration. Of the multitudes who came to our shores between 1820 and1860, a third were from Ireland. For those who gained employment at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, a chapel was established to serve them and their families. Foundry owner Gouverneur Kemble donated land and funds for what would be the first Catholic church north of Manhattan.

On the banks of the Hudson River, in the heart of the Highlands opposite West Point, The Chapel Restoration is a national historic landmark, built in 1833 in the Greek Revival style.

Fifty miles north of New York City, across from Metro North Railroad Station and within walking distance of the charming 19th century village of Cold Spring, the chapel, which has no religious affiliation, hosts the renowned Sunday Music Series and Sunset Reading Series.

A beautiful and serene setting for weddings and other private gatherings, such as christenings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows and memorials, it is also a place of repose and contemplation for visitors to its grounds offering spectacular views.

Originally known as Chapel of Our Lady, The Chapel Restoration, Cold Spring, New York, was built in 1833, in the Greek Revival style.

Abandoned in 1906, it was a charred, weather-ravaged ruin until its restoration in the 1970s.
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1996, with funds from the estate of Hugh Holt, a balcony based on the original was built and a tracker action pipe organ custom-built by George Bozeman was installed.

The chapel also has a Steinway Grand Piano, once owned by the Livingston family.

Its designer was another immigrant, a 19-year-old from England, Thomas Kelah Wharton. Built in 1833 of locally made red brick covered with stucco, the chapel was in the Greek Revival style, then in vogue. Its columns were of the Tuscan order, a simple, unfluted version of the Doric, whose supreme expression is the Parthenon in Athens.

Contemporary press describes a festive dedication, September 21, 1834, with people arriving by boat. A large choir performed, along with a band from West Point, “whose notes might be heard in the recesses of the mountains,” for dignitaries of church and state.

The foundry went on to become a major producer of Civil War armaments. Test firing greatly damaged chapel walls, and Captain Robert P. Parrott, then in charge, paid for repairs. Victorian additions altered the building’s integrity, and the coming of the railroad cut it off from the life of the town. Abandoned in 1906, it fell victim to the forces of nature and time. Ravaged by fire in 1927, it was a ruin until 1971, when, in the words of The New York Sunday News, “A Methodist, a Lutheran, a Jew, a Presbyterian or two, a scattering of Episcopalians and a handful of Catholics,” including actress Helen Hayes, came together, to buy it from the Archdiocese and undertake its restoration.

The work was overseen by architect Walter Knight Sturges, and the chapel was dedicated as an ecumenical site in 1977.





Taken with a Sony RX10 IV.

Presentation on the Congregation Sons of Israel

In the preceding post I wrote about the Congregation Sons of Israel Cemetery. In it I mentioned that I had learned about the cemetery from a presentation on the synagogue organized by the Briarcliff Manor-Scarborough Historical Society. Shortly afterwards I realized that I had not done a post on that presentation, so here goes.

This year the Briarcliff Manor Scarborough Historical Society has organized a number of presentations on the Village’s Houses of Worship. The presentation took place, Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 7:00 pm at the Congregation Sons of Israel (CSI). Mr. Irwin Kavy presented a comprehensive history of the synagogue. A highlight of the presentation was when Mr. Kavy showed a time capsule that had been found in the building that previously housed the synagogue. He also showed and described the contents. The presentation ended with a lengthy Q&A that provoked an enthusiastic response from the participants. A video of his presentation is now available courtesy of Mr. Kavy and the CSI.
















Taken with a Sony A7IV and Rokinon/Samyang AF 24-70 f2.8 FE

In Ossining again – Garden at Trinity Episcopal Church

“Neo-Gothic architecture, popular from the close of the 19th century until the mid 20th century, represented a revival of interest in the Gothic structures of England over the polychrome High Victorian Gothic variants favored over the preceding decades. These structures were less ornate and tended toward a monochrome color scheme, often utilizing rough faced stone cladding, arched windows, and prominent towers with castellated parapets. The Trinity Episcopal Church consists of two wings: a cruciform shaped 1892 main wing and an L-shaped parish hall and cloister, both of which were constructed in 1905. The overall plan of the structure forms a U shape, with a courtyard in the middle. The Church is constructed with rock faced limestone quarried in St. Lawrence County, New York and has random coursing on the stone facing, lending a rough visual appearance. The main wing contains pointed arch windows with stone surrounds and hooded lintels, with irregularly spaced window openings, and a group of wall dormers on the north and south elevations. The main wing’s most prominent feature is the three-story bell tower, which is square in configuration and contains a clock and a crenellated granite parapet. The main entryway on the parish house is also surrounded by crenellation.

The Trinity Episcopal Church is listed as a contributing structure within the Village’s National Register of Historic Places-listed Downtown Ossining Historic District. It is architecturally significant as a well-preserved example of the Gothic Revival style and is culturally significant for its association with the Second Episcopal Parish of Ossining.

Trinity Episcopal Church, constructed in 1892 and located at 7 South Highland Avenue, was built as the home for the Second Episcopal Parish of Sing Sing (now Ossining). This parish was established in 1868 by returning Civil War veterans and held its first meetings in the basement of
one of the buildings in the Barlow Block. The parish later held meetings for a time in the original First Presbyterian Church, a structure that was once located on the same site where Trinity Episcopal Church now sits. After the First Presbyterian Church moved to its present location at 34 South Highland Avenue (see entry), the Parish purchased the site and built the current structure on the property. The three story stone tower that dominates the Church’s main façade was constructed in accordance with a mandate from the Episcopal Church stating that all churches must incorporate a large tower into their design as a visual symbol of this denomination. A number of the stained glass windows in the building were obtained from Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company of New York City and from Gorham Manufacturing of Providence, Rhode
Island.

Robert W. Gibson (1851 – 1927), an immigrant from England, was the architect. He built a number of other religious, institutional, and commercial structures in New York State during his career. These include the following:

• Albany Episcopal Cathedral (Albany, NY – 1884)
• St. Michael’s Church (New York, NY – 1891)
• St. Paul’s Cathedral redesign (Buffalo, NY – 1888)
• Greenwich Savings Bank (New York, NY – 1892)
• Bank of Buffalo (Buffalo, NY – 1895)”

(Village of Ossining Significant Sites and Structures Guide, Page 200)

Taken with a Sony RX100 MVII.