Calvary Baptist Church (Manhattan)

History

The church was founded in 1847, and its first sanctuary was at 50 West 23rd Street, completed in 1854. It then moved to a red sandstone Gothic church designed by John Rochester Thomas at its current location, which was built in 1883–1884. It also had a chapel at 223 West 67th Street, which was later used by St. Matthew's Roman Catholic Church.

In 1923, Calvary became one of the earliest churches to operate its own radio station and has since maintained a long tradition of widely followed religious broadcasts. "Tell It From Calvary" is a radio show that the church still produces weekly; it is heard on WMCA.

The building at 123 West 57th Street was an early example of an urban high-rise, or "skyscraper", church, a 16-story building which also included the Hotel Salisbury, an apartment hotel. Planning for the edifice began in 1929, with the design credited to the firm of Jardine, Hill & Murdock, and the building was dedicated in 1931. Two Steinway grand pianos were donated to the church by pianist Van Cliburn, who attended periodically while living in the hotel.

Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton have worshipped at Calvary. Billy Graham and Billy Sunday have preached there.

In 2019, Alchemy and ABR Investment Partners announced that they would acquire the sites at 123–141 West 57th Street from the Calvary Baptist Church. The developers planned to replace these sites with a 26-story tower containing a church sanctuary, offices, and shops. In early 2020, Calvary Baptist Church and the Salisbury Hotel closed in preparation for demolition. Following a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, Alchemy Properties acquired the church in 2021 and announced plans to redevelop the site. Demolition began in 2022, and the next year, the church leased space at a synagogue on 86th Street.

Senior pastors

• 1847-1849 David Bellamy
• 1850-1852 John Dowling
• 1852-1863 A. D. Gillette
• 1864-1869 R. J. W. Buckled
• 1870-1911 Robert Stuart MacArthur
• 1915-1917 Joseph W. Kemp
• 1918-1929 John Roach Straton. During his tenure, Calvary was nationally known as a center for fundamentalism and efforts to reform society in his vision of Bible-based morality.
• 1930-1934 Will H. Houghton Houghton resigned from Calvary's pulpit to serve as the fourth president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL.
• 1936-1949 William Ward Ayer A poll found preacher and religious broadcaster Ayer to be Manhattan's "third-most influential citizen", behind Eleanor Roosevelt and religious broadcaster Bishop Fulton Sheen.
• 1950-1957 John Summerfield Wimbish
• 1959-1973 Stephen F. Olford Olford "took it as a challenge to seek to overcome prejudice" and the church was desegregated under his leadership. Today, the church "celebrates [the] congregation’s ethnic, racial, social-economic, generational, and cultural diversity within [the] unity in Jesus Christ" as one of its core values, a diversity that "reflects what heaven will look like one day."
• 1976-1986 Dr. Donald R. Hubbard
• 1989-1994 James O. Rose Jr.
• 1997–2018 David Paul Epstein
• 2022–present Abraham Joseph

References

References

1. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1875/02/15/93906290.pdf "Calvary Baptist Church. A brief sketch of its rise and progress"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', (February 15, 1875), page 6. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
2. {{cite fromatoz, p.37
3. Jaker, Bill; Sulek, Frank and Kanze, Peterr. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0qr_W5B1SAQC&dq=Manhattan+%22Calvary+Baptist+Church%22&pg=PA168 ''The airwaves of New York: illustrated histories of 156 AM stations in the Metropolitan Area, 1921-1996''] Page 168. WQAO went on the air 1923. One of the earliest religious broadcasters in New York. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
4. (May 29, 2020). "Welcome to WMCA 570 AM & 102.3 FM - New York {{!}} The Mission WMCA - New York, NY".
5. "Media {{!}} Calvary Baptist Church, NYC".
6. 978-1-58768-003-8 pp194-105. Notes its history and that it is in a 16 story church/apartment building/hotel, owned by the church. Retrieved November 20, 2009
7. 978-0-7591-0637-6. Page 13. Briefly lists the modern Calvary Baptist structure as a "neogothic skyscraper" among important religious structures in the region. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
8. 978-0-486-23361-1.pp164-165. Pictures and brief history of Calvary 1883 and 1929 buildings. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
9. (May 29, 2020). "AN UPBEAT OLD-TIME PREACHER - New York Daily News".
10. "BILLY SUNDAY BACK WITH OLD 'GINGER'; Calvary Church Packed as the Evangelist Opens 2 Weeks of 'Real Preaching.'". The New York Times.
11. Bockmann, Rich. (October 7, 2019). "Developer behind Woolworth conversion planning Billionaires’ Row office tower".
12. Gannon, Devin. (October 7, 2019). "26-story office building planned on top of the Calvary Baptist Church next to One57 on Billionaires' Row".
13. (November 26, 2019). "Billionaire's Row Is Getting A New Development: Records".
14. Londono, Vanessa. (November 9, 2019). "Demo Permits Filed for 123 West 57th Street in Midtown, Manhattan".
15. "26-story office building planned on top of the Calvary Baptist Church next to One57 on Billionaires' Row".
16. (June 21, 2021). "Calvary Baptist Church sells property on 57th Street".
17. (July 19, 2021). "Developer holds firm on Billionaires Row office project".
18. (July 12, 2021). "Church in New York City to Become Office Tower – CTBUH".
19. (March 1, 2022). "Demolition Begins at 123-141 West 57th Street for 26-Story Office Tower in Midtown, Manhattan".
20. Baird-Remba, Rebecca. (December 13, 2023). "Calvary Baptist Church Leases Space Inside Upper West Side Synagogue".
21. link. (October 8, 2007 on the Calvary Baptist Church website)
22. [https://books.google.com/books?id=p8gRAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22A.+D.+Gillette%22+%22calvary+baptist%22&pg=PA53 "About the early history and the building of a new edifice"] ''Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine'' Volume 13, 1883. Retrieved November 20, 2009
23. MacArthur, Robert Stuart. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mxopAAAAYAAJ&dq=Manhattan+%22Calvary+Baptist+Church%22&pg=RA11-PA372 "The Expositor and current anecdotes"], Cleveland, Ohio. Vol XI, no. 7, April 1910, page 372. MacArthur had been pastor of Calvary Baptist 40 years, during which time he received 5000 members. He was an author, with 22 published volumes of sermons and compiled widely used hymnals. 10 persons were at the church's founding in 1847. Gives fairly detailed church history up to that point. The mother church had 2300 members, and 3 daughter congregations had been founded. Retrieved November 20, 2009
24. [https://books.google.com/books?id=j6EYAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22calvary+baptist%22+manhattan&pg=PA113 "Rev Dr. R.S. MacArthur, founder, withdraws from membership because of sensationalism"] ''The New York Times'' (March 8, 1922), page 1
25. [https://books.google.com/books?id=meIpAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Joseph+W.+Kemp%22+%22calvary+baptist%22&pg=PA335 "The modern dance"]. ''[[The Lutheran Witness]]'' Vol. XXXVI, no. 22, (October 30, 1917), pp 335-336. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, quoting ''[[Milwaukee Free Press]]'' (February 28, 1912), and ''[[St. Louis Post Dispatch]]'' (February 24, 1917). Rev. Joseph W. Kemp of Calvary says dancing of 150 years ago was ok, but modern dancing, in which a man places his right hand on a woman's waist, and holds her right hand with his left, while they dance the "two step," was a "shameless exhibition," showing that a man must have "degenerated in his morals" leading to "debauchery," which "violates the soundest hygienic laws. Retrieved November 20, 2009
26. 978-0-8108-6146-6. Extensive discussion of Rev. Straton's campaign against immorality and dancing, his use of broadcasting starting in 1923, and his renown as a fundamentalist. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
27. 978-0-87351-541-2. pp 267-268, 303: ''[[The American Mercury]]'' called Straton "the Fundamentalist Pope." Retrieved November 20, 2009
28. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125015430/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,785850,00.html "Religion: Calvary Baptist."] ''[[Time (magazine). Time]]'' (July 4, 1927). Notes the pentecostal meeting led by Uldine Uley, pupil of [[Aimee Semple McPherson]] and protégée of Straton. Five deacons objected to pentecostal delerium in the Monday night Bible class lasting until 2 am. Loud objections from her supporters led the deacons to resign and be criticized by Straton as trying to 'throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of the "Gospel train" of which he was the engineer.' Retrieved November 20, 2009
29. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101121040518/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,881225,00.html "Religion: Blatant Staton"] ''[[Time (magazine). Time]]'' (August 30, 1928). Article on Staton's morality and fundamentalism efforts 1920-1928, leading to his debate with Presidential candidate [[Al Smith]]. Mentions his 1923 ouster of 29 members for an alleged plot to oust him, and the 1926 expulsion of 4 trustees who criticized him for accepting a salary from another church while on a long vacation. Mentions his "Girl Evangelist" [[Uldine Utley]] in 1927. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
30. Carpenter, Joel A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSLgWIp_7-YC&dq=%22Will+H.+Houghton%22+%22calvary+baptist%22&pg=PA46 ''Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism''] page 46: In the 1930s and 1940s, under Pastors Houghton and Ayers, Calvary was a "pocket denomination" with Moody Memorial in Chicago and Church of the Open Door in LA, with newspapers, radio programs, missionaries, and Bible conferences. Retrieved November 20, 2009
31. "DR. HOUGHTON QUITS CALVARY CHURCH; Pastor Ends Four-Year Service to Head the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. SUCCEEDED DR. STRATON 16-Story Salisbury Hotel Built Under His Administration -Brought Billy Sunday Here.". The New York Times.
32. Balmer, Randall Herbert. [https://books.google.com/books?id=syUupeVJOz4C&dq=%22William+Ward+Ayer%22%22calvary+baptist%22&pg=PA39 ''Encyclopedia of evangelicalism''] Pp 39-40. "Ayer, William Ward (1892–1985)." Pastor of Calvary 1936, for 13 years. Church grew from 400 to 1600 members. "Morning Truth" broadcast widely heard. Fervent fundamentalist, but warned against being "too contentious." Anti-Communist, sometimes anti-Catholic. First president of "National Religious Broadcasters." Retrieved November 20, 2009.
33. [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aNUNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IXkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6309,861930&dq=manhattan+calvary-baptist&hl=en "Largo Has New Bible Church"] ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'' (April 22, 1961). Retrieved November 20, 2009.
34. [https://web.archive.org/web/20081222105102/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935859,00.html "Religion: twisting the devil's tail"] ''[[Time (magazine). Time]]'' (March 16, 1953). Notes AM radio station [[WQAO]] initiated broadcasting from Calvary in 1923. Says Rev John S. Wimbush continued radio ministry, and it was the "oldest continuing religious broadcast on the air," though the broadcasts by then were on [[WEPN (AM). WMGM]].They continued to espouse fundamentalism. Church membership: 1500. Notes move to 17 story hotel/church in 1931. Notes the independent Baptist church has stronger ties to Southern Baptists than to Northern Baptists. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
35. "CALVARY BAPTIST INSTALLS BRITON; Billy Graham Asks Church to Back Olford's Work in 'Dark and Pagan' City". The New York Times.
36. "Olford Ministries International".
37. (January 20, 1973). "Olford Resigns as Pastor Of Calvary Baptist Church". The New York Times.
38. link. (May 29, 2020)
39. (2017). "Calvary Baptist Church, 2016-2017 Annual Report".
40. (February 2, 2010). "Sermon Review: Calvary Baptist Church(New York City) {{!}} Meghan Duke".