FIFTH   AVENUE
 

57
 

From, a pnoiograph.
 

Collection oj Roman LaihoLic Orphan Asylum, Bronx.
 

OLD CATHOLIC ORPHAN ASYLUM, ABOUT 1852.
51st Street and Fifth Avenue.
 

was erected on the site, and the old mansion of the Literary Institu¬
tion used as a rectory. The church was later moved from this site
to a position east of Madison Avenue (then not cut through), between
50th and 51st Streets. Two of the well-known pastors of this little
church were Fathers Larkin and McMahon. The church was burned
while the Cathedral was being erected, but was immediately rebuilt
and used until the Cathedral was occupied.

A partition suit brought in 1852 by St. Peter's and St. Patrick's
Churches finally vested the title in St. Patrick's upon the payment
of $59,500 to St. Peter's for its share. In 1853 Archbishop Hughes,
acting for the trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, acquired the corner
belonging to the Church of St. John the Evangelist. Thus the entire
cathedral site came into the hands of the trustees of St. Patrick's
Cathedral.

The idea of the Cathedral had originated in 1850 in the mind of Erection
Archbishop John Hughes, of the diocese of New York, who planned of the
a cathedral to cost $867,000.    He announced that one hundred and Cathedral
three persons, including two Protestants, had started a subscription
of $1,000 each to help defray the cost.    James Renwick, Jr., who
designed Grace Church, was selected as the architect.    Archbishop
Hughes died in 1864.    The work was in turn carried on by Cardinal
McCloskey,   Archbishop    Corrigan    and   Cardinal    Farley.     After
years of effort to obtain the means to build this magnificent edifice
—the ultimate cost of  which was  $4,000,000—the  Cathedral was
formally opened and blessed on May 25,  1879,  and dedicated on
October 5, 1910.