St. Jean Baptiste Church

History and architecture

Ordered but vital monumentality is the quality with which the St. Jean Baptiste Church impresses on the passerby. Nicholas Sirracino designed it in the style of the Italian Renaissance with a four-column pedimented porch, twin bell towers and high doze over the crossing. It was built in 1910 to serve the French Canadian community in New York; Thomas Fortune cyan, the noted financier, was the principal contributor toward its construction.

The principal facade on Lexington Avenue is a masterpiece of lively symmetry with a tasteful and intelligent statement and re-statement of architectural motifs. A temple-front portico screens the central door of the three that give access to the Church. Four free-standing Corinthian columns, on a high plinth, support a full entablature and pediment. It is this main pediment which provides the facade's unifying theme. Two small echoing pediments flank the temple front over panels above the side doors. The scroll on the crest of the large central pediment is repeated over the smaller side ones and again above the cornices of the doors. The triangular shape of the pediment is restated at the parapet where a globe supported by angels effects a transition between the bell towers.

The bell towers at the sides of the front facade and the dome over the crossing are impressive features at the skyline. The octagonal bases of the towers have on four sides round arch openings flanked by pilasters and this design is used again for the drum supporting the dome. The towers are capped with a circle of Corinthian columns supporting a ribbed dome. This type of lantern also crowns the high ribbed dome at the crossing.