About

The Church of the Heavenly Rest and the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple on New York City's Upper East Side is the masterwork of Hardie Phillip of Mayers, Murray & Phillip, the successor firm of Bertram G. Goodhue Associates. Completed in 1929 in a pioneering neo-Gothic style, it employed traditional forms and monumental massing in a modern way, marrying modern skyscraper technologies with a Gothic aesthetic. Inside, it showcased the talents of master sculptors, Lee Lawrie, Ulric H. Ellerhusen, and Malvina Hoffman, resulting in an eye-filling array of site-specific Deco- and Moderne-inspired artworks, furnishings and decoration that melded traditional Christian iconography with Jazz Age exuberance. Commissioned by church leadership, Gregory Dietrich Preservation's work on the National Register Nomination entailed an exhaustive review of historic drawings, correspondence and photographs housed at Columbia University's Avery Drawings and Archives, as well as numerous books and journals related to its development, history, design, architect, engineer, artists and artisans. The Church of the Heavenly Rest and the Chapel of the Beloved Disciple now occupies its rightful place among the pioneering works of American ecclesiastical design from the 1920s.