ARCHITECHTURE
St. Augustine is a Church located at 166 6th avenue in the bustling downtown Brooklyn. There are many churches in the area but I can assure you that St. Augustine has a lot of great gothic qualities. When I first came upon this church, I thought it was a castle at first because it is really tall and rather large in size with several pointed roofs and made out of stone. Even the dingy old color of the stone make it feel more out of touch with the surrounding area. Not to mention the colossal doors all around that make you feel significantly small when walking through them. Having the dead trees around gives it a spooky look as if you shouldn’t come close to the place.
This churches has key gothic architecture to it such as numerous flying buttresses, vaults, pointed arches, and tall stained glass windows. There are also a few cherubs’ faces on the outside walls. Inside the church is just as gothic as the outside. Inside is all white with gold accents. It consists of high ribbed vaults ceilings, more flying buttresses, old chandeliers and several religious statues.
From the book, Saint Augustine Church, guide to the catholic church of saint Augustine Brooklyn, New York. Photography by Monte Allen and written by Robert J. Whelan.
St. Augustine can be compared to the castle in Castle of Otranto since it does take place in well a gothic castle. So seeing the church it immediately reminded me of the book and how the castle would be portrayed as.
From the book, Saint Augustine Church, guide to the catholic church of saint Augustine Brooklyn, New York. Photography by Monte Allen and written by Robert J. Whelan. The Church when after it was first built in the 19th century.
Fitting to its gothic atmosphere, this church also bares an interesting history of itself. Purchased by Reverend Edward W. McCarty as vacant lots, he announced an architectural contest in 1887 for the construction of the church. Of the 10 entrees from prominent firms, one of them won with their 14th century English gothic design. So even when it was first built, it was conceived as an old castle-like building as its construction started in 1888.
A school was built in and open in 1895, adjoined to the church and known as the St. Augustine Academy. In December 16, 1960, an event that no one foresaw occurred. 2 planes, a United Airlines plane and a TWA aircraft, collided into each other over Staten Island. The United Airlines plane narrowly missed the church, crashing a block away killing 6 people on the ground and all 128 of its passengers. Not only people attending the church but also 1,500 students from the Augustine Academy were spared from possible deaths and the destruction of the church.
From the book, Saint Augustine Church, guide to the catholic church of saint Augustine Brooklyn, New York. Photography by Monte Allen and written by Robert J. Whelan.
It is said by those people that the copper statue of Gabriel, standing on the eastern apse and holding his horn, protect the church, school, and the occupants inside. Could this be possible that the stature came to life to use its powers to do so or perhaps, angel channeled their power through the statue and church as a whole to steer the crash away?
This related to Sigmund Freud’s works on the uncanny as it refers the strange and mysterious, which is fitting for a statue that has a power to protect the people under it from possible doom. Also similar to the events in The Castle of Otranto such as the Alfonso the good, the original owner of the castle, coming out of his painting to confront Manfred or the giant helmet falling on Manfred’s son which is belonged to a statue of Alfonso inside the castle.
“As we wound on our endless way, and the sun sank lower and lower behind us, the shadows of the evening began to creep round us….By the roadside were many crosses, and as we swept by, my companions all crossed themselves.” – Dracula, Bram Stoker
“That night I had come to the fatal cross roads. Had I approached my discovery in a more noble spirit, had I risked the experiment while under the empire of generous or pious aspirations, all must have been otherwise, and from these agonies of death and birth, I had come forth an angel instead of a fiend.” – The Strange Case of Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Lewis Stevenson
ner uses Emily as a representation of the old south, and the children are representing the new generation that does not want to go back to pre-war times and values. “Then the newer generation became the backbone and the spirit of the town, and the painting pupils grew up and fell away and did not send their children to her with boxes of color and tedious brushes and pictures cut from the ladies’ magazines. The front door closed upon the last one and remained closed for good” (Faulkner IV).
Which pictures show, there was a bigger tower that was once a part of the church which, now no longer existence. Yet, why keep the a staircase if it leads no where? As you walk further in the church there are two staircases on either side of the church, which lead to two separate balconies.
Frederic the long lost father of Isabella was looking for Hippolita, the Queen of Otranto. When he stumbled in the church he taught he had found Hippolita and to his dismay he was mistaken as he walked closer to the figure that was praying. “Then the figure slowly turned around to Frederic the fleshless jaws and empty sockets of a skeleton, wrapt in a hermit’s crowl” it was a specture (demon) who was praying in the church. I’m not saying the strange man was a demon but not once did he turn around to notice what was around him, and from every angle his face could not be seen. And left without a trace or sound. Afterwards, I walked up the stair case
to one of the balconies, they were poorly lit,which made it’s really dark aside from the few pieces of light which came from the windows. The moral windows almost look as if their eyes are blacked out and were watching you as you moved. With this observation, the windows meant to show you Jesus’ life and death to create this feeling of prestige and appreciation, just became creepy instead. On the other hand, there was quite as many shadows and more dust and cobwebs. Which created an eerie feeling, and a chill down my spine yet the doors and windows were not open. Then, as I started to leave I heard the floor slightly creak with every step that I took. As if at any moment the floor could give or maybe it did to hear where you were going…. ” I can tell you one thing, said the doctor, “if it was the younger sister sneaking around this house at night, she had nerves of iron. It watches,” he added suddenly (Haunting of Hill House, Chapter 2). Hill house and St. Ann’s both are similar as they both seem to be watching your every move while something or somebody is lurking within the shadows, waiting, watching.
