Trinity Church

“Now, one Sunday morning I happened to go to Trinity Church, to hear a celebrated preacher, and finding myself rather early on the ground, I thought I would walk round to my chambers for a while.”

“Bartleby, the Scrivener,” by Melville was published in 1853.  The subtitle is “A Story of Wall-Street.”  The Trinity Church that the narrator mentions in the story is depicted in the following picture, at center left.  Here is the Wall Street of Melville’s time:

It is interesting to note that the Trinity Church is one of only three buildings that remain today from this scene.

Trinity Church is also known as Trinity Wall Street. It is located at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street in New York City.  It is an historic, full-service parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

In 1696, the Church of England purchased land in Lower Manhattan for construction of a new church.  The first Trinity Church was a modest building that was constructed in 1698.  Queen Anne of England increased the parish’s land holdings to 215 acres in 1705.  The church was later destroyed in the Great New York City Fire of 1776.  This church saw the official end of the revolutionary war and is the resting place of many martyrs of the revolution, including Alexander Hamilton.  The Reverend Samuel Provoost was appointed Rector of Trinity in 1784.  The New York State Legislature ratified the charter of Trinity Church deleting the provision that asserted its loyalty to the King of England.  In 1787, Provoost was consecrated as the first Bishop of the newly formed Diocese of New York. Following his 1789 inauguration at Federal Hall, George Washington attended Thanksgiving service, at St. Paul’s Chapel, a chapel of the Parish of Trinity Church.  He continued to attend services there until the second Trinity Church was finished in 1790.  St. Paul’s Chapel is currently part of the Parish of Trinity Church and is the oldest public building in continuous use in New York City.  The second Trinity Church building was consecrated in 1790.  Here’s a view of it from 1830:

This structure was torn down after being weakened by severe snows during the winter of 1838–39.  It was rebuilt and completed by 1846. The 1846 Trinity Church building was designed by architect Richard Upjohn and is an example of Gothic Revival architecture.  This is the structure that the narrator in “Bartleby, the Scrivener” would have visited and it is the structure that we know today:

In 1976 the United States Department of Interior designated Trinity Church a National Historic Landmark because of its architectural significance and its place within the history of New York City.  That same year, Queen Elizabeth II visited this landmark.

Here is a modern-day view of the Trinity Church(before September 11):

And below is a modern-day picture of the Trinity Church as a part of Wall Street.  What would Melville think of the Wall Street of 2010?

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/LM/LM047-TRINITYCHURCH.htm

http://legacy.www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/print/exhibits/movingup/labelv.htm