A Peek Inside the General Theological Seminary

Most New Yorkers have walked the perimeter of the General Theological Seminary in Chelsea and wondered what was inside. Occupying the entire block between 20th and 21st Streets, 9th and 10th Avenues, the imposing complex is not open to the public, and has the look of a cloister. That look is intentional, of course, as it’s where the Episcopal Church has trained clerics for nearly two centuries. On December 5 (Krampusnacht, no less) your intrepid reporter had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the interior on a special tour sponsored by the GTS and Untapped Cities, and jointly led by the Dean of the School Michael W. DeLashmutt and Clement Clarke Moore expert Pamela McColl.

DeLashmutt center, McColl Speaking 

The occasion for this rare tour is the upcoming bicentennial of the publications of Moore’s poem, usually known by the title “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”. What’s the connection? you may wonder. The entire neighborhood of Chelsea was once the Moore family’s farm; the area now occupied by the GTS was the apple orchard. Moore’s father was a Bishop in the church and for a time President of King’s College, which later became Columbia. The seminary opened at its present location in 1827. Clement Clark Moore taught there for many years.

The Close

In 1878, Dean Eugene Augustus Hoffman expanded the campus, with a grand design that arranged building around a quadrangle in the manner of the Quad at Oxford. The impressive Chapel of the Good Shepherd opened to worshippers a decade later. 

Chapel Interior 

New construction and expansion continued throughout the 20th century. The present era finds the institution on a time of consolidation and retrenchment, the most obvious illustration of which is the High Line Hotel, which is in a building sold by the GTS in 2010. 

Benediction and Dismissal