SCOUTING
FIELD NOTES

Exploring An Empty Church In Brooklyn

11/03/2010

This is Greenpoint’s beautiful St. Elias Church, located on shady Kent Street. And yes, that’s a FOR RENT sign on the front.

Once serving the community as both a church and Sunday school for more than 140 years, St. Elias is now completely empty, and has been since 2007, when the property was purchased by developers.

For a while, the plan was to sell it as a mansion, with an asking price of $3.4 million for the church and $3.7 million for the school portion (the facade would be preserved). Unfortunately, the days of eccentric buyers purchasing empty churches seems to have passed, and St. Elias’ future is somewhat up in the air.

The good news is that St. Elias is available for film shoots, and any number of other short term uses. In fact, it was rented for a robot orchestra in February!

From a scouting standpoint, St. Elias is a one-of-a-kind shooting location. Finding film-friendly churches can be difficult, because you often run into the question of content approval. And for some reason, a lot of movies shot in New York don’t always portray the church in the kindest light…

There’s a lot of great detail in the church portion, which is lined with mahogany pews:

The school is equally impressive, with a mezzanine and windows encompassing the third-story level:

I love this choir loft on the upper level…

…which has two enormous sliding frosted glass window panels. I wonder how many kids sang up here over the years:

A very curvy hallway…

A classroom, with hardwood floors:

I believe this was the former vestiary:

A small chalkboard – no chalk, but the string still hangs. Something about this makes me sad, not sure why.

Beautiful windows at the entrance:

Stained glass windows poking through the decay:

The trap door to the tower, which has views of Manhattan:

But my favorite hidden find in St. Elias? This wooden bar in the basement, which feels as old as the church:

Note the liquor racks on the walls…

I would love to know if everyone knew about it…or if only certain parishioners were privy to its existence! It was a Catholic church after all…

-SCOUT

Many more posts in the archives!

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Alan

11/20/2011

Does anyone know where the records of the Greek Catholic Church might have gone? Did they relocate or just close shop?

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j lavryshyn

11/29/2011

Something that is not noted here is that St. Elias was never a “Roman Catholic” church but was (as noted just above), a Greek Catholic church.

As such, the church pertained to the Eparchy of Passaic, NJ (Byzantine-Ruthenian Catholic). It is most likely there, that any records would be kept. Greek Catholics are in communion with the pope and the Vatican, but celebrate the liturgy (mass) of the Greek Rite and have their own customs, laws and traditions.

The founders of St. Elias would have come from the Carpathian mountain region of present day Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. The language they spoke is known as “Rusyn”, a dialect of Ukrainian.

St. Elias is a very historically significant parish for Greek Catholics. A noteworthy priest, Fr. John Slivka, served as pastor for many years. He compiled the invaluable book entitled “Historical Mirror” which contains documents and information from the early days of the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the USA. He also composed catechisms and published some of the first liturgical books in English.

Also, the infamous Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen celebrated the Byzantine Divine Liturgy at this church in the 1950s or 60s. Sheen, although a Roman Catholic, had “bi-ritual faculties” so that he could celebrate the liturgy in both rites. He had a particular affinity for the beauty and pomp of Byzantine ritual, something he shared with Bishop Nicholas T. Elko, who was the Ruthenian Greek Catholic ordinary of that period.

In regards to a bar in the church hall or basement, this was quite common in Slavic parishes, as in other ethnic churches. Weddings, dances, theatrical performances, choral concerts, meetings of fraternal lodges and other societies would have been part of normal parish life.

While it is sad that St. Elias is no longer a functioning church, it is a commentary of the phenomenon of cycles of immigration to the USA and migration within the country. It also speaks to the importance of preserving the mosaic of the nation’s different ethnic heritages, as opposed to the “melting-pot” theory of former times.

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Mike

11/30/2011

I was baptized at St. Elias in 1966. My family attended it for decades (my parents grew up in that church), I served on the altar from about 1973 through the 1980s, and I had the privilege of witnessing the parish’s 100th anniversary in the early 1990s. That “for rent” sign is painful to see. I know the inside of that church very well, including the full basement where coal used to be stored for the furnace. It apparently extends from beneath the front on Kent Street all the way to the rear of the building right beside the bar pictured above (there should still be a door in the bar area that would open to this basement). The bar beneath the rear of the building, incidentally, is where the men’s bathroom was located (the ladies’ room was beneath the front of the building). To access the bathrooms, you would need to walk down flights of stairs from the social hall pictured above. In the bar, there was for years an odd but fascinating painting of a Lockheed Constellation in flight over, I believe, San Francisco. There is also a door to the roof from the belfry on the right side. Lastly, there may still be a coal chute which my late father apparently slid through (when he was a boy in the 1940s) to enter the church building. Overall, it was a good place that touched the lives of many good people. Would love to share more with anyone who is interested.

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1. Karen Richmond
  
  02/08/2013
  
  Since you have some knowledge of the history of St. Elias, could you tell me where the church was located prior to its move to Kent Street in the 1940’s?
  
  My grandparents were married at St. Elias in 1911 by Rev. Peter Keshelak. I would like to see where they were married, even if the church building no longer exists.
  
  Thanks!
  
  Reply
  1. Joe Fliel
    
    12/03/2014
    
    The original location of St. Elias Greek Catholic Church was 720 Leonard St., directly across the street from St. Anthony’s Parochial School.
    
    Reply
  2. Barbara Onderchek Black
    
    08/21/2015
    
    My Grandparents Emma (nee Remeski) and John Gaydos were married in St. Elias on Leonard Street on August 13, 1911 and lived on Java Street until the 1970’s. i remember visiting the “new” St.Elias many times growing up. I have wonderful memories of Greenpoint from the 1940’s-to 1970’s.
    
    Reply
2. AGNES (LEMES) ROBBIE
  
  03/25/2015
  
  I was born in Greenpoint on Berry Street & N. 8th Street. We went to St. Elias every week as a family. Even when we moved out of the area (Queens and then by the Nassau County border), my father would drive all the way back to Greenpoint for mass on Sunday morning. I was baptized in St. Elias by Rev. John Slivka and then in 1980 was married by him. Not many can say the priest that baptized the also married them. I loved that church. Had a lot of fun at the parties (dances) that were held there. Especially when the “old” men would have a bit too much to drink and would start singing their songs in Slovak. I am so sad that this church had to close, but I understand the changing demographics of the area. It was a Byzantine Catholic Church Greek Rite. I didn’t understand what that meant growing up, but I did know that they did things a little differently than the Roman Catholic Church. I now live in Pennsylvania but still have my fond memories of St. Elias.
  
  Reply
Pat Nazzaro

06/03/2012

My grandparents, who were Slovakian, got married in this church in 1913 by Rev.Peter P. Keshelak. I hope it is still there as I would love to visit the church when I next come to that area. Thanks for the pictures and all the information, it was wonderful for me to imagine my grandparents wedding taking place at St. Elias church. Now I have some information to share with my family.

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1. Mary Lynn Kevolic Ricketts
  
  03/08/2014
  
  Thank you for your comments on St. Elias. My grandparents also were married there 1909. They were both from Certizne, Czechoslovakia.
  
  Reply
Kevin

11/09/2012

Great building. Pat Metheny recorded The Orchestrion Project here. The album cover is in the entry room with the great stained glass. It’s very interesting that the same month you published these pictures he used it to record the video version of the album. It’s available now on DVD and Blu-Ray but I haven’t picked it up yet. Loved the album and saw it live in St.Louis. Now I’m really looking forward to a more intimate tour of St.Elias!

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Amanda

07/24/2013

Hopefully it gets put to good use! An old church in my hometown is, last time I checked, a video rental store known in town for its porn section. Hey, at least it’s getting an afterlife.

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John Varga

09/07/2013

I grew up in this church. Before the purchase of this building the previous church was located on Leonard Street. My wife and I were married in the Kent Street church on August 2nd, 1958. I used to wash Bishop Sheen’s auto when he visited (about once or twice a year). Always brings a smile to my heart and my face just follows whenever I think about St. Elias. I now follow the Roman Catholic faith, but always miss the Slovac Liturgy and seasonal services. God bless all!

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1. lynn
  
  05/18/2014
  
  My great grandparents were married there in 1903!! Nice to see the photos. Their last name was Gerzanich.
  
  Reply
Zuska

09/12/2013

It’s very sad to see our church empty! Historically it was considered not just Catholic, but rather a “Greek Catholic” church. (Over time, our faith was then termed “Byzantine Catholic.”) My roots are in that church, as my most fondest memories originate at St. Elias. As a matter of fact, my father still has VHS of the various priests who have held services here over the years. I also have pictures of me and my sister as small children – playing in the hall. My grandparents (on BOTH sides) attended services here. My parents were were married here by Rev. John Slivka many years ago. The bells that were housed in the tower of St. Elias now have a new home in Uniontown, PA with the Sisters of Mt. St. Macrina. It truly is painful to see a for rent sign plastered across this church. If only I could win the lottery…..

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lynn

05/18/2014

My great grandparents were married there in 1903!! Nice to see the photos.

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111thevoice

06/16/2014

Such a beautiful empty church building and we are a church desperately looking for a place to relocate. Our lease expired and we have not been able to find something affordable. This would be perfect how about everyone joining us in prayer for a miracle. God Bless 😀

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Rebecca

11/12/2014

Does anyone know if this church is still empty/ available for short term usages?

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Ramón

04/01/2015

In Spain we have similar examples , an example is Santa Barbara Coruño .. , now used by skate boarders .. greetings .

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Joyce

03/20/2016

I am trying to find out what happened to the records from St. Elias. My great-grandparents were married there in 1899. My grandfather was baptized there in 1900.

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