Bearded Angel Sepia

Title

Bearded Angel Sepia

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph - Photograph With Added Texture

Description

In traditional Christian usage "angels" (a word meaning messengers) are spiritual beings of great beauty and power created by God. In scripture they generally appear in the form of "young men" which is why they were generally depicted that way in Christian art. Symbolic wings and halos (representing the Holy Spirit)were also generally included.

In later times, Medieval and Renaissance, angels began to appear in art as winged babies/ cherubs and as young girls and both have become fairly common. What is very unusual is a depiction of an angel as an old or older bearded man. That is why I was struck by the relief sculptures at the entrance to the Broadway Temple United Methodist Church at 173rd Street in the Washington Height area of Manhattan. The images have something like an Assyrian look them. In Assyrian relief sculptures winged and bearded men were protecting spirits.

The only other Christian depiction I can think of that represents a bearded man with wings is the traditional Eastern Orthodox icon of John the Baptist. In that case, however, it is not meant to suggest he was an angel in the usual sense, but only that his role in the Christian story was that of a special messenger who was sent to "prepare the way" for Christ. Not all icons of John the Baptist include the symbolic wings, but their presence is not unusual. ---S. Loft

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From NYC That Never Was: A Methodist Skyscraper Church on Broadway
Posted In Architecture, New York
by Catherine Ku

In 1923, four years before construction on the bridge began, the congregation of the Methodist Church in Washington Heights received news that the church would be razed to accommodate the soon-to-be-built George Washington Bridge. The church's head, Reverend Christian Reisner, proposed an elaborate solution.

Reisner planned a 40-story church at Broadway and West 173rd Street. His instructions to architect Donn Barber were to be a magnificent advertisement for God's business, and Barber delivered. The Broadway Temple, as the church would be named, would have a 2,000-seat nave, a five-story basement complete with a swimming pool and bowling alley, all topped off with a 75-foot-high rotating cross that could be seen from 100 miles away. The 725-foot structure was willed by God, according to Reisner, and also included playgrounds, classrooms, dormitories, a cafeteria and two 12-story apartment buildings that flanked the central tower.

The church may have been divinely willed, but its $4 million price tag couldn't be paid by God. Instead, Reisner looked to a number of millionaires- who were evidently richer than God- for help. John D. Rockefeller donated $100,000, and engineer Charles V. Bob paid for the rotating cross. Two years after the proposal, $2 million had been raised and construction began on the temple. The two 12-story apartments were completed in 1927, but only the basement bowling alley, gym and social space were also finished by the start of the Depression. By then, rising costs had pushed the project to over $5 million and construction came to a halt.

The church didn't overcome its debt until after Reisner died in 1940. In 1947, construction of the Broadway Temple finally resumed on a smaller scale. The finished temple, completed in 1952, is three stories compared to the original forty and was designed by the same architects of the Empire State Building. While Reisner's lofty plan didn't survive, the church itself did. Today, the building still serves as the Broadway Temple United Methodist Church, perhaps a sign that divine will was on Reisner's side after all.

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Featured in the 500 Views group, April 2017.

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July 29th, 2016

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