4. 5th Avenue Presbyterian Clocktower
The 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church predates the nearby St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Plaza Hotel. Designed by Carl Pfeiffer and completed in 1875, the Victorian Gothic church seats 1,800-seat people in a sanctuary where there are no right angles. The space is decorated with extensive, hand-carved woodwork by Kimbel & Cabus of New York, original stained glass windows by John C. Spence of Montreal that pre-date the Tiffany period, and a six-story ceiling.
On these Open House New York tours, visitors will get to see the sanctuary attic and historic clock tower. Guests will be escorted six stories above the main floor to get an up-close view of the church’s distinctive, “building within a building” architecture. From the attic, visitors will climb into the clock tower, where the original, 19th-century clockworks are still in use. This is one of only two tower clocks by Boston’s E. Howard & Co. still in operation in New York City. Tours run Saturday, October 19th at 1:00PM to 1:45PM and 2:30PM to 3:15PM and Sunday, October 20th. Book here when registration opens!