First Hungarian Reformed Church of New York - Buildings

Buildings

The church is located on the south side of the street midway between First and Second avenues. It is in the middle of a group of old rowhouses. Those on the west are among the few remaining from the early development of this part of the Upper East Side around 1880. The rowhouse on the church's west serves as its parsonage. Across the street are larger, taller apartment buildings dating to the first half of the 20th century. Similar high-rises are to the south.

The building itself is a two-story, three-bay structure with raised basement in brick faced with yellow stucco. A square bell tower rises from the center of a side-gabled roof; behind it the roof is flat. There is a slightly projecting main entrance at the center and a basement entrance on the west.

On the north-facing street facade's first floor are two windows on either side of the main entrance with piers on either side. They are topped with decorative ceramic rectangular panels. Above them, on the second story, are double windows topped with similarly decorated semicircular panels. In the middle, on the projecting section, is a large oculus with plaster surround.

The roofline is marked by a bracketed overhanging eave with exposed rafter tails. Above it the bell tower rises, with a single narrow window on the north above the roof topped by three similar windows on each face at the top. Each corner is topped with pyramid-shaped pinnacles; the tower itself has a conical roof in red tile with a weathervane on top.

A pent roof with wooden knee braces, below another rectangular ceramic panel, shelters the main entrance. Below it are double wooden doors beneath a stained glass tripartite transom with an eagle in the center. It opens into a vestibule with steps leading into the nave.

The nave has a mosaic tile floor with Greek key border and marble wainscoting. A central aisle runs between two rows of original wooden pews. Full-height pilasters divide the walls into four bays. At the south end the walls are angled and filled with stained glass windows topped with a semicircular arch. A columbarium with bronze font is in the northeast corner.

Heating ducts are visible along the top of the west wall. The coffered ceiling is elliptical-arched with lateral beams springing from the pilaster capitals. The coffers themselves are intricately painted and gilded. In the center of the ceiling are stained glass skylights. The light they let in is supplemented by artificial light from hanging fixtures.

A stairwell in the northwest corner of the vestibule leads to the choir loft. It has marquetry panels with Hungarian folk art motifs below the balustrade. The church's basement has been remodeled into an auditorium with paneled walls and a dropped acoustic-tile ceiling. A door near the rear of the nave opens into the parsonage.

The parsonage is a three-story Neo-Grec brownstone rowhouse with raised basement and stoop. Like the others in the row, it has decorated door and window enframements, rusticated stones and a segmental arch window on the basement and a galvanized iron cornice with decorative brackets at the flat roof. Inside many original finishes remain, such as paneled doors, stair balustrade and high ceilings. The first floor is the church office, with the upper stories the living space.