First German Baptist Church

German Traces NYC Podcast

One would be hard pressed to find a better example of the changing ethnic identities of New York neighborhoods through architecture than the First German Baptist Church on East 14th Street.

The Church emerged out of the need to serve Kleindeutschland’s extensive German immigrant population. The congregation first met in 1846 at Stanton and Essex Streets, before relocating to Avenue A near Second Street in 1850.

As the Civil War closed and many of Kleindeutschland’s residents migrated further uptown, the First German Baptist Church contracted Julius Boekell to design a new location at 336 East 14th Street. What Boekell designed was stylistically German, an important assertion of the immigrant group’s identity. The structure contained two symmetrical spires, a large cross sitting on building’s highest point, and a plethora of stained glass.

As many of the German residents moved and dispersed over time, the congregation of the First German Baptist Church either merged with other congregations or simply ceased to exist sometime after 1920.

In 1926, the Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church of St. Volodymyr acquired the building. At this point both the spires and the central cross were removed and replaced with onion domes, a common feature in Eastern European architecture. Eventually, much like those of the German Baptist Church, the Ukrainian congregation migrated to the Upper West Side, and St. Volodymyr followed in 1962.

The next group to take up residence at the site was Congregation Tifereth Israel, and the building became known as the “Town and Village Synagogue”. The Christian-themed stained glass was removed, though the onion domes remained and now serve as a reminder of congregations past.

Congregation Tifereth Israel continues to operate in the building to this day.

First German Baptist Church