The Landmarks Preservation Commission Tuesday morning (March 10, 2026) voted to designate the Church of St. Mary on the Lower East Side as an individual landmark.
Parishioners, community members, and preservationists launched a grass roots campaign to secure landmark protection for the church. St. Mary’s, located at 440 Grand St., was built in 1833, in the Greek Revival style. Thirty years later, architect Patrick Charles Keely was hired to create a new facade in the Romanesque Revival style. The Archdiocese of New York did not oppose the landmark application.
Several supporters spoke during the public hearing on Tuesday. They included City Council member Christopher Marte, who was recently appointed chair of the Council’s landmarks subcommittee. “Representing the Lower East Side’s iconic legacy as a bastion of diversity and a gateway for immigrants from all around the world,” said Marte, “St. Mary’s has always welcomed with open arms the Irish, Puerto Rican, Chinese and many other immigrants who have sought a better life here and who have defended the diversity and affordability of the Lower East Side for generations.”
He thanked Norma Ramirez, a longtime community member who helped lead an effort to collect 4,000 petition signature in support of landmarking. When it was her turn, Ramirez (a Lower East Side resident since she was 5 years old), told commissioners that it’s important to seniors like herself to have the church just across the street or down the block. “The church is our life,” she explained. “it’s all that keeps us going. Please, help us!.”
A well known preservationist, Simeon Bankoff, noted, ““It’s terrific to be designating a working Roman Catholic Church, which is a fairly rare thing in the agency.” Richard Moses, president of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative (LESPI), also delivered a statement, noting that the church is surrounded by large residential towers. Many people in the neighborhood see St. Mary’s as a link to the neighborhood’s history and providing a sense of continuity in, “an ever changing and often disruptive urban environment,” he said. Moses’ organization worked with local residents and Council member Marte to submit the application for landmark designation.
The Commission’s research brief noted the cultural importance of St. Mary’s as well as its architectural significance: “The church itself is a striking example of Romanesque Revival architecture, boasting original early 19th-century field stone side walls, an impressive facade and dual towers, as well as late 19th-century stained-glass with elaborate enframements. Saint Mary’s remains an important reminder of the historical and cultural development of New York City’s Lower East Side.”
In January, Community Board 3 (CB3) approved a resolution in support of landmarking St. Mary’s. At a meeting of CB3’s landmarks subcommittee, there was discussion about false rumors that St. Mary’s might close. When Father Andrew O’Connor was reassigned to churches in Dutchess County, the Archdiocese did not appoint a new priest to lead St. Mary’s. Instead, Father Thomas McNamara of Our Lady of Sorrows, another Catholic Church on Pitt Street, assumed responsibility for both parishes. Charlie Schleck, co-chair of St. Mary’s Parish Council. acknowledged that there had been some consolidation for financial reasons but reassured community members that the Archdiocese is still supportive of St. Mary’s. He added that there is no current use for the rectory building and a parking lot next to the church, and said it’s possible the parcels alongside St. Mary’s could be sold at some point in the future. Notably, the landmark designation only includes the tax lot where the church sits, and not the adjacent parcels. There was no discussion about the rectory at Tuesday’s Commission hearing.
For many years, local preservationists have urged the Commission to focus more attention on the Lower East Side. In his remarks, Moses said, “LESPI requests that the (Commission) take a close look at the Lower East Side from East 14th Street to the Brooklyn Bridge in order to designate more individual landmarks and historic districts before the area’s important and immense history and architecture fall to the wrecking ball.” Mitchell Grubler, a co-founder of Friends of the Lower East Side, echoed these sentiments, saying, “Friends of the Lower East Side is pleased to have the Commission’s attention drawn to our neighborhood and we hope that interest will continue to result in future considerations of both individual designations as well as historic district designation.”
