The Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, also known as the Flatbush Reformed Church, is a historic

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal fami ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

– now a member of the

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 82,865 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...

– at 890

Flatbush Avenue Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City Borough (New York City), Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which ...

in the

Flatbush Flatbush is a neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park to the nort ...

neighborhood of

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The church complex consists of the church,

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

, parsonage and church house.

History

The land on which the complex sits has been in continuous use for religious purposes longer than any other in New York City. The congregation was founded in 1654 and the original church was built under the direction of Jan Gerritse Strijker at the order of

Peter Stuyvesant Peter Stuyvesant ( – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the Directors of New Netherland, director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was pro ...

. The 2.5-story stone

Federal style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classical architecture built in the United States following the American Revolution between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was influenced heavily by the works of And ...

church building designed by Thomas Fardon was constructed in 1793-98 and is the third church building on the site. p.711 It features a stone tower with stone

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

. The stained glass windows are by

Tiffany studios Tiffany may refer to: People * Tiffany (given name), list of people with this name * Tiffany (surname), list of people with this surname * Tiffany Darwish, (born 1971), an American singer, songwriter and actress known mononymously as Tiffany * ...

and commemorate the descendants of many early settlers of Flatbush. The building was constructed of

Manhattan schist In the United States, the Manhattan Prong of the New England Uplands is a smaller belt of ancient rock in southern New York (including Manhattan, the Bronx, and segments of Brooklyn and Staten Island), parts of Westchester County, and upland po ...

, and the architecture includes Romanesque features such as arched windows and doors, as well as Tuscan colonettes. The church's bell was imported from

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

, and paid for by John Vanderbilt. The bodies of American soldiers who died in the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn ...

during the American War are reportedly buried underneath the church structure. The cemetery is the last resting place for most of the founding families of Flatbush. The earliest legible grave marker dates to 1754. The 1853 parsonage is a 2.5-story wood-frame house designed in a vernacular style transitional between the

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

and

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

styles. It was moved to its present site at 2101-03 Kenmore Terrace in 1918. The church house is a 2.5-story red brick and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

building designed by Meyers & Mathieu in the

Colonial Revival style The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exposition, Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened A ...

and erected in 1923–24. ''See also:'' The complex was initially designated a

New York City Landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and c ...

in 1966, with the boundary expanded in 1979. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1983.

Gallery

File:Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Church House from front.jpg, Church House File:RPDC Flatbush w-Graveyard jeh.JPG, Cemetery File:Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Parsonage.jpg, Parsonage File:07 01 2021 Flatbush Reformed Church under scaffolding.jpg, Undergoing repair work File:Flatbush Reformed Parade.png, Flatbush Reformed members participating in a parade circa 1969 within Brooklyn, New York City

References

Notes

External links

*
Official Facebook page
{{Authority control Churches in Brooklyn Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn Federal architecture in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn Cemeteries in Brooklyn Protestant Reformed cemeteries in the United States Reformed Church in America churches Former Dutch Reformed churches in New York (state) Flatbush, Brooklyn Dutch-American culture in New York City