Architecture

The Beehive Dome of Sunset Park

St. Michael’s tower rises over Sunset Park, and can be seen for miles around; until recently, the church was one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn.

brooklyn architecture 4200 fourth avenue st michaels sunset park

by Suzanne Spellen

07/25/2017 0

Editors note: This post originally ran in 2011 and has been updated. You can read the previous post here.

St. Michael’s tower rises over Sunset Park, and can be seen for miles around; until recently, the church was one of the tallest buildings in Brooklyn. Raymond F. Almirall, the architect, studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the church dome is reminiscent of the Byzantine style domes of the Sacré-Coeur, in Montmartre, which was built in 1884.

Most descriptions of the church at 4200 4th Avenue call the dome a beehive, or a bishop’s mitre, and it seems to be unique among all the many houses of worship in the borough.

A look at an archival photo shows that there were originally four smaller domes surrounding the main spire and dome. Too bad they are no longer there; they might have halted some of the less flattering things said about this campanile.

Almirall is an important New York City architect of the Beaux-Arts period at the beginning of the 20th century. His Brooklyn works include the original design for the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, which was later built on his foundation and side walls; the Bushwick branch; and three other branches of the library, which were funded by Andrew Carnegie. He also designed Public Bath No. 7, also on 4th Avenue.

In Manhattan, he is best known for his Emigrant Savings Bank building, now offices, and the Boss Tweed Courthouse. Both are magnificent examples of Beaux-Arts, City Beautiful architecture.

Sunset Park has always been an immigrant neighborhood, growing in the mid-1800s through a large influx of Irish, Polish, Norwegian and Finnish immigrants. The parish of St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church was established in 1870 by poor Irish immigrants who mostly worked in unskilled manual labor jobs in the shipyards and industrial areas near the docks.

By the turn of the century, the Irish population in Sunset Park had grown in numbers, and their success in America had afforded many members the affluence to see to the establishment of four local churches.

St. Michael’s had grown in numbers and wealth as well, and this new church was completed in 1905. While the nearby Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help may be much larger, this church is still the iconic presence in Sunset Park.