Shrine and Parish Church of the Holy Innocents

Story

The Church of the Holy Innocents is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, located at 128 West 37th Street at Broadway, Manhattan, New York City.HistoryThe parish was established in 1868. The present edifice was completed in 1870 using the Gothic Revival style of architecture. The first pastor engaged Constantino Brumidi to create a monumental fresco over the main altar. He later decorated the Great Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol Building. In the early years cows roamed the streets and open pastures around Holy Innocents. As the city rapidly expanded northward the community, known as the "Tenderloin", teemed with immigrants from Europe. By the early 1900s the area was known for newspaper publishing (The New York Herald) and theaters (The Metropolitan Opera House (39th St)). Holy Innocents was called the "actor's church". Eugene O'Neill, the playwright, was baptized in the church in 1888. Archbishop Patrick J. Hayes had the church build a twenty-storey storage and loft building at 135-9 West 36th Street in 1924 to designs by the eminent Emery Roth 19 West 40th Street for $600,000.Pastor Rev. Dr. Richard Brennan transferred here in 1890 from being pastor since 1875 of St. Rose of Lima's Old Church (New York City), after the death of the former pastor, Rev. Larkin.