Appendix #24: Trinity Church Before & After the Fire
Illustration 24: A view from Wall Street and Broadway
Trinity Church, circa 1776 (right); Lutheran Church (left); the English Charity School House can be seen down the slope that leads to the Hudson River.
Illustration 24, 24a and 24b are views of a 3D computer model built by Devan Calabrez in collaboration with Bruce Twickler for Docema, LLC. The important references for the 3D model are below.
References:
Berrian, William An Historical Sketch of Trinity Church, New York (New York: Stanford and Swords, 139, Broadway. 1847) pages 23 - 29.
Columbiana Collection, Columbia University, Drawing by Edward Punnett Chrystie, 1953, for the Columbia Bicentennial in 1954 (Shows English Charity School House where Columbia, as King's College, held its first classes in 1754. Also shown is back of Lutheran Church and front of Trinity tower.)
Lutheran Church: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelical_Lutheran_Church_of_St._Matthew_(New_York_City)
Illustration 24a: Trinity Church before the 1776 Fire
Trinity Church, as completed in 1737, was the second house of worship built on a royal grant of sixty-two acres sloping west from Broadway down to the Hudson River. It extended one hundred forty-eight feet from its front door in the tower facing the Hudson to the back of the semicircular chancel curving towards Broadway across which the western end of Wall Street began. It was seventy-two feet wide. The one hundred seventy-five-foot spire could be seen as far away as Long Island and New Jersey.
Illustration 24b: Trinity Church After the 1776 Fire
The Great New York Fire on September 21, 1776 reduced Trinity Church to ruins with just the fragments of the walls and tower still standing. On the other side of Rector Street is the hollowed shell of the Lutheran Church. Not shown, are the remains of the English Charity School on the south side of Rector and two hundred homes built on lots from the original grant and rented by the Church.
References:
Drawing by Thomas Barrow... "Ruins of Trinity Church, North Side 1776" From the Collections at the Museum of the City of New York.- Also, Docema's 3D computer model as described and referenced above.