Garden Street Church, Enlarged Temple 1766

The Garden Street Church had its roots in the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam (now New York), originally established in 1628, during the Dutch rule.

The Reformed Dutch Church began to erect a new temple, in 1691, on Garden Street (now Exchange Place) and it opened for divine service in 1693, before it was thoroughly finished. The society became known as the Garden Street Church. In 1766 the temple was enlarged and repaired.

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The temple of the old South Church in Garden Street, after enlargement in 1766. Engraving from A Discourse Delivered in the North Reformed Dutch Church in the City of New-York, on the Last Sabbath in August, 1856, by Thomas DeWitt, published in 1857. Drawn by Robert Bond and engraved by Whitney & Jocelyn.

In 1807, a new temple was erected on the same site and in 1812, the South Church was separated from the Collegiate Church. The second temple burned in the Great Fire of 1835 and the congregation built a new temple on Murray Street, where they remained until 1847.

The congregation moved to a Gothic revival temple on Fifth Avenue and 21st Street, completed about 1849. In 1890, the South Church sold this temple and purchased the former Zion Protestant Episcopal Church, a Gothic edifice built in 1854, located on Madison Avenue at 38th Street.

The congregation moved again to a new temple, constructed in 1909-1911 on Park Avenue and 85th Street. It was designed by Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson in French Gothic style.

In 1914, the South Reformed Dutch Church was dissolved and the remaining congregation merged with the First Union Presbyterian Church, which became known as the Park Avenue Presbyterian Church. In 1937, it merged with the Brick Presbyterian Church and the combined congregation worshiped in the old South Church building until 1940, when the current temple of the Brick Church on Park Avenue opened. In 1945, the temple was purchased by the Central Christian Church and was renamed Park Avenue Christian Church.