2 INCH WOODEN BLINDS

St. George Episcopal Church, Flushing, Queens

Prominently sited on Main Street in the heart of downtown Flushing, St. George's (Episcopal) Church is a notable example of Gothic Revival design. Erected in 185354, this impressive stone building is the congregation's third church building on the site since 1746. The large size of St. George's is indicative of the importance of Flushing as a major regional center during the nineteenth century, A rare surviving work in New York City by the leading ecclesiastical architects Wills & Dudley, St. George's is a major example of ecclesiological church architecture. A philosophical reform movement that had widespread influence on American Protestant Episcopal church design in the nineteenth century, ecclesiology sought spiritual renewal by returning to the rituals and architectural forms of the medieval church. Its architectural precepts are reflected at St. George's in the clear expression of the interior spaces in the exterior massing, in the straightforward use of the materials, and in the inclusion of certain details derived from medieval architecture, such as the high pitched roofs and lofty tapered spire, which the ecclesiologists imbued with symbolic meaning. The design is also noteworthy for handsome walls of randomly-laid granite rubble trimmed with dressed red sandstone and stained glass windows in wood tracery derived from English Perpendicular and Decorated Gothic sources. In 1894, the church was enlarged by the addition of a new chancel wing that matched the older parts of the church in materials and detailing and incorporated exceptionally fine stained glass windows. The 1907 Neo-gothic Old Parish House, designed by the prominent architect Charles C. Haigh t, complements the church building and features a skillfully composed asymmetrical design. The church and parish house are located in a landscaped churchyard that contains approximately fifty gravestones and memorials dating from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

In 1997 St. George's Parish celebrated its 235th anniversary on Main Street in Flushing. Over the years, St. George's has adapted to meet the needs of the Flushing community and remains an important neighborhood institutioa50 It now offers worship services and community programs in English, Spanish, and Chinese to its congregation that includes immigrants from Asia, South and Central America, Europe, and Africa. The churchyard, church, and Old Parish House are visual reminders of St. George's historic role in the development of Hushing and the church and Old Parish House are notable examples of Gothic Revival design.

Description

St. George's Episcopal Church complex occupies a large through-the-block comer lot that has frontages on Main Street, 38th Avenue, and 39lh Avenue. The portion of the lot occupied by the church, the Old Parish
House, the wing connecting the church and Old Parish House, the historic masonry retaining walls and iron fence, and the grounds and graveyard enclosed by the retaining walls are part of this designatioa The New Parish House (which adjoins and is connected internally to the Old Parish House and thel937 extension), the auditorium building (which adjoins and is connected internally to the church chancel and the New Parish House), the yard between the Old and New Parish Houses, and the graveyard and parking lot at the western end of the lot are not included in this designation. The Church

The Gothic Revival style church building consists of a towered entrance porch, nave with clerestory, and side aisles constructed in 1853-54. Because the church is located on the west side of Main Street, the entrance is at the east end of the building and the chancel extends to the west. The chancel wing, built in 1894, replaced the original chancel and vestry. The lower walls of the church are constructed of blue-gray Connecticut granite rubble laid in a random manner. Dressed brownstone is employed as coping for the watertable and buttresses, as string courses delineating the story levels on the tower, and as surrounds for the door and window openings. The roof, frame sidewalls of the clerestory over the nave, and the clerestory buttresses are clad with noil-historic square-cut slate shingles installed in the 1950s. (The roof was originally sheathed in polychrome diamond and fishscale slate shingles laid in a stripe pattern) All of the windows are set in wood tracery frames and contain historic stained glass. A number of modifications, notably the installation of the clerestory buttresses, were made to the building in the 1950s. Main Street Facade: The eastern facade facing Main Street is dominated by a 150 foot tower and spire that projects in front of the main body of the church. At each comer of the tower are stepped double-buttresses. The eastern and southern faces of the tower have pointed-arched entrances approached by stone steps with non-historic iron pipe rails (The front steps have been resurfa

This was shot about the time the thunder started rumbling and we started praying (literally).

Alicia and I were 1 hour into what is advertised as a 2 1/2 hour hike on the red trail at Bushkill Falls.

I quickly composed and fired off a few shots, grabbed my tripod and we hustled to the next falls (Bridal Veil Falls). Continue watching my photostream for more details of our harrowing adventure.

**Critiques Wanted -
This horizontal Composition, or the next one, vertical?

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