A Georgian-Dutch parish church rebuilt in Gothic Revival form, with one wall of the 1752 original still standing inside it.
At a glance
St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church, known locally as St. John’s Church, Getty Square, stands at 1 Hudson Street in Yonkers. The complex includes the main church, a chapel, a rectory, and a school. The church sits a short distance from the former Philipsburg Manor Hall. One wall of the original 1752 building survives inside the larger 1874 church.
History
Frederick Philipse III, third lord of Philipsburg Manor, built the original church in 1752. Local rough gray fieldstone and red-brick quoins made up its walls. A fire in 1791 destroyed the roof, interior woodwork, and steeple. Renovations the next year brought a new name: St John’s Church, Philipsburgh. It was the first use of that name.
As Yonkers grew into an industrial city, an extension was added in 1849. Still, the congregation needed more space. Architect Edward Tuckerman Potter rebuilt and enlarged the church in 1874. The vestry insisted he keep elements of the old building. He preserved one stone wall and built it into the new structure. Its round-arched windows and doorway became models for the new ones.
During the American Revolutionary War, the church served as a field hospital for both sides. An exterior plaque honors Revolutionary soldiers buried in the church cemetery, adjacent to Oakland Cemetery. Inside, a memorial plaque remembers Reverend Luke Babcock, rector from 1770 to 1777. He was a Loyalist arrested by Patriots.
What you see
The building has a cruciform plan and a slate-covered gable roof. The front facade holds a half-round rose window, two quarter-round rose windows, and four battered buttresses. A tall nave and high-pitched roof give the church its Gothic Revival character. The round-arched windows and doorway, inherited from the original church, carry Georgian elements with a Dutch colonial influence.
The chapel and the adjacent 2+1⁄2-story rectory were built in 1890–1891. Architect R. H. Robertson connected them to the church with additional rooms and covered walkways.
Cultural significance
Potter’s combination of Gothic Revival massing with Georgian and Dutch colonial details produced a strikingly individual design. The building’s layered history is visible in its fabric. The preserved 1752 wall makes the church a physical record of Yonkers from colonial manor estate to industrial city.
The church was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places in June 1982. The entire complex joined the National Register the following month.
Key facts
- Country: United States
- City: Yonkers, New York
- Coordinates: 40.9336, -73.8989
Practical information & getting there
The church is at 1 Hudson Street in the Getty Square neighborhood of Yonkers, near Saw Mill River Road. The church cemetery is adjacent to Oakland Cemetery at Saw Mill River Road and Axminster Street.
Sources & resources
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