page_title: Church of the Nativity (Manhattan)
section_title: Buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Church of the Nativity (Manhattan) / Buildings
caption_attribution_description: The Church of the Nativity at 44 Second Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was built in 1970, replacing an 1832 Greek Revival church originally built as the Secon Avenue Presbyterian Church, and sold in 1842 to become the Roman Catholic Church of the Nativity. The design of the original church is attributed to Alexander Jackson Davis, James H. Dakin and James Gallier of the firm of Town &amp; Davis. The modern replacement was designed by Genovese &amp; Maddalene. The new building has been called "Starkly institutional" and "a modern architectural cartoon." (Sources: From Abyssinian to Zion (2004) and AIA Guide to NYC (4th ed.))
context_page_description: The Church of the Nativity is a former Catholic parish church in the Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 44 Second Avenue between Second and 3rd Streets in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1842.
context_section_description: The original painted-timber Greek Revival sanctuary was built in 1832 at 48 Second Avenue as the Second Avenue Presbyterian Church and was designed by the prominent New York firm of Town & Davis, which then included Alexander Jackson Davis, J. H. Dakin, and James Gallier. It consisted of a Greek Doric portico and two-stage steeple. In 1842, it was sold to the newly formed Nativity of Our Lord parish and became the Church of the Nativity. It was demolished in 1970, after a fire.
  The present Modernist church was built at 44 Second Avenue from 1968 to 1970 for $240,000 to the designs of Genovese & Maddalene. It has been described as "starkly institutional" and "a modern architectural cartoon exhibiting a gross idea with no detail."
  
  The parish included within its territory the headquarters of the Catholic Worker Movement and was the site of the Funeral Mass of its co-founder, Dorothy Day, in December 1980.
caption: The current church
exif: {"Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK EASYSHARE C433 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "126", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/500", "EXIF FNumber": "3", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:01 13:26:02", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:01 13:26:02", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "9", "EXIF ApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "16/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "38/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2304", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "45", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}