As a Roman Catholic parish, we serve approximately 1,800 households from a variety of backgrounds in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We hope you will enjoy browsing our website and that you will find there helpful information. Also, we look forward to having you join us in person at our Eucharistic celebrations and social events.

God's blessing and peace to you and yours.

Rev. Kevin Madigan

Our Lady of Good Counsel

Our Lady of Good Counsel, in the 1970’s and 1880’s, following the Civil War, the city’s residents began to move northward, leaving the congested and noisy downtown area.  The construction of elevated trains along Second and Third Avenues enticed may to Yorkville, which extends from 59th to 96th Street, and from the East River to Fifth Avenue.  German families and immigrants, along with a large group of Irish, were particularly attracted to Yorkville.  Brownstones and tenements were built for the laborers who worked at the Ehret’s and Ruppert’s breweries, or who crossed the East River at 92nd Street for an easy ferry ride to the Steinway Piano Factory in Queens.

The infux of Catholics soon overflowed Yorkville’s primary church, St. Lawrence OToole (now St. Ignatius Loyola), founded in 1851 on East 84th Street.  New churches were established by the diocese.  Thomas H. Poole designed the Church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which was completed in 1892.  Its stone exterior is notable for crenellated coping and turrets which echo those found on the Calvary Squadron A Armory (designed by John R. Thomas in 1888-90) on Madison Avenue between 94th and 95th Streets.  Inside, the ornate and spacious interior is decorated with lacy gothic details, galleries on three sides, and beautiful stained glass windows.

St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More, built in 1870, this church has a varied history, described here.

Architects: Hubert, Pirsson & Co
Building material: Gray sandstone (like that used in the nearby walls of Central Park)
Building style: Gothic Revival interpretation

The church complex consists of four parts, giving the exterior some rambling facade planes. Walking east from Madison Avenue to Park Avenue you encounter first the smooth-stone octagonal chapel - note the stylized angel wings over the pilasters flanking the entry. Between the chapel and the church is a curious, turret-like pinnacle. Next is the church proper (1870) with its chamfered, square bell tower topped with four pinnacles; the Gothic-arched entrance bears a large stone eagle and is flanked with pairs of engaged columns topped with rosettes, leaves and lilies. To the east is the rough-stone rectory with steep hipped roof, and finally the brick, stone-quoined parish house (dated 1897, according to the apex carving). The Gothic embellishments of the facade are subdued and include square-headed windows with hood moldings and lancet-arched windows with drip moldings. In 1994, a new oak pulpit designed and carved by Hugh Harrison of England was installed in the church chancery. The pulpit is composed of five sides of an octagon, decorated with ogee arches and a Tudor rose - the design of a pendant worn by Sir Thomas More when he was speaker of the House of Commons during the reign of Henry VIII. The Tudor rose is a popular design element found in many late 1800's buildings in Carnegie Hill.

Excerpt from Carnegie Hill Architectural Guide by Carnegie Hill Neighbors, 2008.