Church of the Incarnation

History and architecture

This handsome Gothic Revival church and adjacent parish house occupy a prominent corner Site at Madison Avenue and East 35th Street. Designed by architect Emlen T. Littell, the church was built in 1864. The present parish house was originally built as the church rectory in 1868-69 and given a new facade, designed by architect Edward P. Casey, in 1905-06. Together they form an impressive complex and are an important reminder of the development of the Murray Hill area during the mid-19th century.

The congregation of the Church of the Incarnation had its beginnings in 1864 as a chapel of Grace Church, meeting in a building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 28th Street. By 1852 the congregation had grown so much that it incorporated as the Church of the Incarnation with the Reverend Edwin Harwood as rector. A new church building was deemed necessary by about 1860, but the Civil War intervened, i However, in 1863 the church was able to buy a site at Madison Avenue and 35th Street in the Murray Hill section. Murray Hill, which took its name from the country estate of Robert and Mary Murray, had been developed as a residential area in the 1850s.

A number of churches followed in the wake of this development. A limited competition was held for a new Qiurch of the Incarnation, and designs were submitted by three architectural firms: Gaaforill & Post, H.G. Harrison, and Emlen T. Littell. Littell's design in the Gothic Revival style was selected.