Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

The Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Roman Catholic parish church, located in Hell's Kitchen/Clinton, Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1876, it is a parish of the Archdiocese of New York and is located at 457 West 51st Street. Sacred Heart of Jesus School is located at 456 West 52nd Street. Since 2009, the pastor has been the Rev. Gabriel Piedrahita.HistoryThe parish was founded in 1876 with the Rev. Martin J. Brophy as the first pastor. The congregation first met in the converted Plymouth Baptist Church at 487 West 51st Street.Vicar-General Mooney, pastor of the church in the 1890s, was a strong proponent of the parochial school system, as opposed to secular public schools. During a sermon at the dedication to the now closed and demolished St. Rose of Lima Parish School, he "urged his hearers to send their children to the parochial schools, where, he said, the religious instruction they would receive was far more important than the secular instruction they could receive in the public schools."BuildingsIt is one of the largest churches in Midtown Manhattan.According to the parish history, the cornerstone of the present Victorian Romanesque church building was laid on July 23, 1884 and the finished church building was dedicated by The Most Rev. Michael A. Corrigan, Archbishop of New York, on May 17, 1885. However, according to the AIA Guide to NYC (1978), the "symmetric confection of deep red brick and matching terra cotta frosted with light-colored stone arches, band courses, and copings" was built around 1901 to the designs by the prominent architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons. The address listed in 1892 was 447 West 51st Street.