2018 Cohort
Old First Reformed Church
(Dutch Reformed)
Brooklyn, New York
Old First Reformed Church is one of the founding congregations of the Reformed Church, the oldest Protestant denomination founded in America with a continuing ministry.
Old First Reformed Church by Jane Hively Barber
Old First Reformed Church by Jane Hively Barber
2018 Cohort
Old First Reformed Church
(Dutch Reformed)
Brooklyn, New York
Old First Reformed Church is one of the founding congregations of the Reformed Church, the oldest Protestant denomination founded in America with a continuing ministry.
Although Brooklyn, New York, is now known as the “borough of churches,” Old First was the only church there for over a century. Gov. Peter Stuyvesant originally established the congregation as the Reformed Dutch Church of the Town of Breukelen in 1654. As membership dwindled following the Civil War, the congregation relocated to the developing neighborhood of Park Slope. In 1888, it commissioned notable architect George L. Morse to design a new church in the Neo-Gothic style. Branded as “Old First,” the building attracted new congregants. Old First contains stained-glass windows by three great American stained-glass artists—Louis Comfort Tiffany, William Willet, and Otto Heinigke—and maintains the tallest steeple in Brooklyn.
Today, the congregation hosts 600 to 800 people weekly for programs that include a nursery school, the Brooklyn Community Chorus, Dancewave, Bella Voce Singers, Girl Scouts, White Bird Productions, and Brooklyn Community Board 6. More than 4,000 people attend literary readings, concerts, and other events hosted at the church annually. The congregation’s most impactful program is its Summer Respite Shelter, which provides a meal and a bed for more than a dozen men throughout the summer season.
A National Fund grant of $250,000 with $800,000 in matching funds raised by the congregation allowed Old First to upgrade the outdated and potentially unsafe electrical system and to carefully restore the massive brass and hand-tooled copper historic light fixtures in the sanctuary. As a result of this work, the congregation feels “renewed” and has a “tremendous sense of new energy in the space and an excitement…to take on what’s next” in regard to preserving the building and fostering additional community relationships. The congregation notes that the building “is a core aspect of our mission statement in a way it was not before.”
Old First Reformed Church by Vera Nieuwenhuis
Old First Reformed Church courtesy National Trust for Historic Preservation
Bringing Light Back to Historic Houses of Worship
Light is a fundamental symbol of hope, goodness, redemption, justice, and survival across many faith traditions. From the Diwali diya (lamp) to the Jewish menorah to Advent wreath candles, light is a recognizable and unifying feature of religious practice and iconography worldwide.
Too often, however, historic houses of worship face challenges with outdated electrical and lighting systems. Among other issues, outdated lighting and wiring can render spaces unusable from lack of visibility and pose fire or security risks. These systems are typically expensive to replace and often take secondary priority to other urgent repairs such as roof replacements and water mitigation work. Yet installing lighting upgrades can have a drastic impact on the sense of place and life safety of historic houses of worship.
Old First Reformed Church, Brooklyn, NY. Photo by National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Stories and Media Coverage
Read more about how the National Fund for Sacred Places is helping congregations around the country rehabilitate their sacred places.
Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church by Luis P. Gutierrez