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Our Church

A Beautiful Space for Lifting Up Our Hearts in Worship

A Wonderful Place to Worship

We are delighted that you are exploring our wonderful community, because we ourselves are a community of people committed to exploration. We have hundreds of years of history on the Upper West Side, but we aren’t stuck in it. That history only fuels our journey. We are seeking what God would have us do and be in the world as it is, so that we can be a part of making the world as God would have it be. We feed and nurture all who come in both body and soul, so that when we go out from here we all can feed and nurture others.

Tiffany Stained Glass

St. Michael’s Church has the privilege of worshiping in and caring for an exquisitely beautiful church building. The art and architecture of our church inspires us in our worship of God and draws us together as a community. We are stewards of this extraordinary building so that it may continue to inspire all who come through its doors. We invite you to learn a little about the art and architecture of our church through the content of these pages and hope that you will be able to experience its beauty in person.

Below, parishioner Rick Hamlin introduces us to the windows and mosaic in the Chapel of the Angels and reflects on their meaning. Rick is the executive editor of Guideposts magazine.

Art and Architecture

The current church building is the third on this site. It was designed by architect Robert W. Gibson and completed in 1891. It is made of Indiana limestone in the Northern Italian Renaissance or Romanesque-Byzantine style and provides a rich setting for worship. The style was a daring departure in church architecture at the time. The new Church was enhanced with chancel decorations by Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company. The Church was dedicated on December 16, 1891.

The Parish House of the same style was designed by architects Charles Merry and Robert W. Gibson and completed in 1902. This building was designed for community service and originally contained facilities for a school, laundry and kitchen.