Greater Metropolitan Baptist Church (formerly St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church)

History and architecture

An embodiment of the cultural life of Harlem during the past century, from its period of great urbanization through its physical and demographic changes, the (former) St. Paul's German Evangelical Lutheran Church was constructed in 1897-98 by a German-American congregation and for over fifty years has been occupied by two African-American churches of different denominations. The present building replaced St. Paul's earlier frame church on the same site which had been built in the mid-I 860s to serve a community of German immigrants settling in the area.

In 1940 the building was purchased by the 12th Church of Christ, Scientist, founded in 1927 as the first African-American congregation of the Christian Science faith in New York City. After a longtime presence by that institution, the building was acquired in 1985 by the Greater Metropolitan Baptist Church, which had separated from one of Harlem's oldest African-American congregations, the Metropolitan Baptist Church (founded in 1915). The church building was designed by Ernest W. Schneider and Henry Herter, architects who established their partnership in New York City in about 1887 and developed a thriving practice in residential and commercial buildings, primarily for clients of German descent.