|
By Kent Larsen
New York City Stake Center Rededicated
NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- One of the most prominent and unique chapels in
use by congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints was rededicated Saturday, completing years of renovations that
have more than doubled the building's capacity to house wards and
branches. During its 26-year life, the New York Stake Center, located
at Lincoln Square across the street from the world-famous Lincoln
Center for the Performing Arts, has gone from hosting three
congregations covering more than just Manhattan to eight
congregations covering less than 80% of the island.
To commemorate the building's rededication, stake members prepared a
10-minute video detailing the history of the buildings used by the
LDS Church in Manhattan. The video also alluded to the unique
features of the building, which has just a small entry way on the
ground floor. Church members then take an elevator to one of two
chapels on the third and fifth floors in the building. The video
ended saying, "Welcome, to the church that takes you up."
The Church decided to build the stake center in the late 1960s and
Apostle Harold B. Lee, then First Counselor in the LDS Church's First
Presidency, visited the current site in October 1970, telling those
with him as he looked at the site, "this is the place the Lord wants
us to be." To build the building, the Church sold its New York, New
York mission home, located in a Fifth Avenue Mansion across the
street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (The old mission home is
now part of the French consulate).
The stake center eventually dedicated May 25, 1975 included a
six-story building occupying most of the plot coupled with a 30-story
apartment tower, which was leased to a real estate company. Under the
agreement, several apartments are available to the Church for the use
of missionaries and Church employees residing in New York City. It
also originally included the offices of the New York New York Mission
and an LDS visitor's center in the first three floors above the
street level in the main building. The street level included an
atrium, an entrance to the building and retail shops, while the top
two floors of the main building housed a health club.
Over the building's life its use and the needs of the Church have
changed. The stake has grown (and the geographic area it covers has
shrunk) and an increasing number of wards, branches and Church
offices have used the building. Where the Mission office used to be,
the Church now has a Public Affairs Office, a Church Educational
System office and an LDS Employment center. The Visitors Center was
closed and its place taken by one of the largest LDS Family History
Center's outside of Utah, and one of only a handful staffed by
full-time LDS missionaries.
Source:
New York New York Stake Center Rededication
Kent Larsen
See also:
Various Times and Sundry Places: Buildings Used by the LDS Church in Manhattan
New York LDS Historian Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2000
By Ned Thomas
First Manhattan Chapel in 25 Years
New York LDS Historian Insert #1 Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2000
By Anne Knight
Evolution of the First Manhattan Stake Center
New York LDS Historian Insert #2 Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2000
By Ned Thomas
|
