The Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity is one of the most important monuments of the Gothic Revival in America. Designed by the highly influential nineteenth-century architect and writer Minard Lafever (1798-1854) toward the end of his career, it is considered a crowning achievement of his oeuvre. (...)
The Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity is one of the most important monuments of the Gothic Revival in America. Designed by the highly influential nineteenth-century architect and writer Minard Lafever (1798-1854) toward the end of his career, it is considered a crowning achievement of his oeuvre. The construction of the church between 1844 and 47 was financed by the wealthy Brooklyn merchant Edgar Bartow, who intended it to be an expression of the importance of Brooklyn as a religious, cultural and economic center. In the interior of the graciously proportioned sandstone church, a soaring nave is finished with a vaulted plaster ceiling and is enveloped in seven thousand square feet of stained glass in flamboyant wood tracery. The creator of the windows, William Jay Bolton, pioneered the arts of stained glass design and manufacture in the United States, and the 60 windows that he designed for the church are of outstanding historical significance.
The parish thrived for 100 years, but after the departure of a charismatic rector of 45 years in 1949, a difficult period for the congregation ensued, leading to the closing of the church for more than a decade. When it reopened in 1969, the complex problem of repairing a large building after a long period of deferred maintenance and neglect had to be addressed. A campaign for the complicated and costly task of restoring the church and its endangered stained glass windows was launched in 1979.
