Architectural marvels are not uncommon in a city like Hoboken. But often the story and context behind why these places exist get lost over the years, and sometimes frequent encounters with them in our daily life can sadly dull our sense of wonder they inspire.
Earlier this month, the Hoboken Museum launched the first installment in a lecture series about the city’s houses of worship. Noted Jersey City preservationist John Gomez, who founded the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy in 1999, led the talk and others to follow, drawing from his time as a regular contributor to the Jersey Journal and a graduate student at Columbia University. In addition to historic newspapers and vintage photographs, the lecture uses drone photography that captures these houses of worship from rare vantage points and reveals roof elements in stunning detail.
The first talk covered the Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, the Church of the Holy Innocents, and the United Synagogue of Hoboken. But Gomez dedicated most of the two-hour span to Our Lady of Grace, a spectacular monument to the architectural and religious ambitions of 19th-century Hoboken residents.
“This building when it was finished was the biggest building in Hoboken,” Gomez said. “It was the skyscraper of its time.”
The lectures will teach not only what to look at but remind us how to look at architecture, and it helps that Gomez brings a long career as a public school educator. Our Lady of Grace was designed by Prussian-born architect Francis Hempler, who designed notable landmarks in Europe before immigrating to the United States and creating churches in St. Louis and Detroit. Hempler also designed Hoboken City Hall.
“After Our Lady of Grace, he becomes pretty famous locally, and that’s when all these other big commissions are coming around the country for him,” Gomez said.
It’s hard to imagine that an architect responsible for some of Hoboken’s most important buildings, along with so many wonderful landmarks still standing in various American cities, is not better known. Sadly, one of Hempler’s churches was demolished in Manhattan. Even finding information about him requires a bit of digging. But it goes to show how quickly we forget the people and stories that make up even vital parts of local history. A major purpose of this lecture series is to resurface this buried history while reminding us to remain curious about places that may become too familiar to us.
“You do have to go to all of these sites yourself — experience the sounds inside these places — the creaks, the shadows,” Gomez said. “Even if you’re not religious, just go for the art and the architecture.”
“When you go in, expect your senses to be overwhelmed by artwork everywhere you look,” he continued.
Another highlight of the first lecture was a rare peek inside the Holy Church of Innocents, which, despite plans from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission in 2018 to renovate the church, has remained closed for more than three decades. It is criminal that these works of art remain in the dark instead of being enjoyed by locals and tourists.
“The Holy Innocence congregation has long been discontinued, and its thick heavy doors have been sealed in perpetual silence,” Gomez said. “I get a lot of questions about the Church of Holy Innocents. Like, can you get me in there? I used that card, but it was only once I could use it.”
The first lecture series covered four houses of worship found in Hoboken, but Gomez is determined to cover the rest in the city. “This will not be over until I get to every site,” he said.
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