page_title: St. Leo Church (New York City)
section_title: Building
hierarchical_section_title: St. Leo Church (New York City) / Building
caption_attribution_description: John Cardinal McCloskey. Library of Congress description: "Archbishop McCloskey"
context_page_description: The Church of St. Leo was a Roman Catholic parish church closed under the authority of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 11 East 28th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues in Manhattan, New York City.
context_section_description: The Gothic Revival church was built in 1880 to the designs of Lawrence J. O'Connor, of rough-cut brownstone. The plan called for the church to be 50 by 120 feet, with walls 56 feet high. The New York Times reported on August 16, 1880, that “the tower on the east side of the church will be 105 feet high, and over the main entrance will be a colossal cross” The cornerstone was laid August 15, 1880. At that point, the walls had risen twenty feet above ground level and over the basement level. The church was to be roofed in November 1880 and opened for worship around August 1881 at a cost of US$95,000.
  New York City Police Department Capt. Berghold with 30 policeman kept the 2,000-person street crowd under control, as every seat within the enclosure of the un-roofed church was already occupied.
  “The corner-stone bore a legend in Latin which translates as: ‘His Eminence Cardinal McCloskey, Archbishop of New-York, laid the corner-stone of the new church of St. Leo, on the 15th day of August, 1880, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Leo XIII being the reigning Pontiff of the Church. Rutherford B. Hayes, President of the United States of America; Alonzo B. Cornell, Governor of the State of New-York; Edward Cooper, Mayor of New-York; the Rev. Thomas J. Ducey, Pastor; the Rev. David J. Leahy, assistant, and Lawrence J. O'Connor, architect.’ United States coins of all denominations, a picture of Pope Leo XIII, a large photograph of Cardinal McCloskey, attired in his large cape, copies of Catholic papers, and of New-York daily papers were placed in the corner-stone.”
  Cardinal McCloskey did not attend the ceremony because of ill-health. The Vicar General officiated, assisted by Rev. McQuirck, assistant priest at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Rev. Frisbie, rector of St. Francis Xavier’s College, the Rev. Salter of St. Joseph’s, the Rev. Wyrich of St. Alphonso’s Church, the Rev. Ducey, pastor of the new church.
  The church and rectory-turned convent chapel and convent were eventually sold to a private developer and demolished in the 1980s. The site is now occupied by the plaza in front of the Madison Belvedere Apartments.
caption: The photo of John Cardinal McCloskey, the first American-born Cardinal, that was likely placed in the cornerstone.
exif: {}