{"nrhp_refnum":"11000620","name":"Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, The","other_names":["Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation of Washington Heights"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"551 Ft. Washington Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Manhattan","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":43.55706685200005,"lon":-73.89097648499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-08-31","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Art Deco church building at 551 Fort Washington Avenue, at West 185th Street in Washington Heights, Manhattan, built in 1932 to designs by Cherry & Matz. It was built for the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist and is now used by the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation of Washington Heights.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant under Criterion C as a rare example of Art Deco applied to a church in New York City, where ecclesiastical design strongly favored historical styles such as Gothic. It was also an unusual commission for Cherry & Matz, a firm whose other known work from the period was in traditional styles.","narrative":"Built in 1932 at the corner of Fort Washington Avenue and West 185th Street in Washington Heights, this church was designed by the firm Cherry & Matz for the Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist. It is a three-story building with a double-height sanctuary above a basement, and its massing uses the setbacks typical of Art Deco. The facades are clad in large gray brick with Indiana limestone trim, bronze entrance doors, and aluminum window grilles decorated with spirals and stylized flowers. Inside, the stadium-plan sanctuary is topped by a shallow skylit dome and retains original Art Deco pews and other details. The building matters because Art Deco churches are rare in New York City, where congregations generally chose historical styles, especially Gothic. Cherry & Matz, mostly known for Lutheran churches in traditional styles, designed nothing else like it. The building has remained a house of worship and is now home to the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, and its main facades, sanctuary, vestibule and foyer survive largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1931 - 1932","architect_builder":"Cherry & Matz","architectural_style":"Modern Movement/Art Deco","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Continuously maintained as a house of worship since 1932; now used by the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, with alterations mainly to minor spaces such as offices and classrooms.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:48.632809-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/11000620.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000620/0db5405362-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000620/0db5405362-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"karel.teifer","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fourth_Church_of_Christ,_Scientist_2012-09-11_23-54-07.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">karel.teifer</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fourth_Church_of_Christ,_Scientist_2012-09-11_23-54-07.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319522","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_Tabernacle_of_Washington_Heights","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5476037"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/fourth-church-of-christ-scientist-the-11000620/"}