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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael

church building in Manhattan, United States of America

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ7392948 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Catholic Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael in Manhattan, New York City has since 1974 been administered as the seat of a Croatian national parish. It offers services in Croatian as well as services in English.

Located at 502 West 41st Street, near the southwest corner of Tenth Avenue and an entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, it was built from 1901 to 1903 as the Church of St. Raphael, for a different population: the poor Irish immigrants of the rough neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen.

Church of St. Raphael before 1974

In 1886 the territory extending from 34th to 44th Streets, west of 10th Avenue, was separated by the Archdiocese of New York from St. Michael's and Holy Cross parishes and formed into the new parish of St. Raphael, which was incorporated May 4 of that year.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael” as church building in Manhattan, United States of America. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Church, Cyril and Methodius.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1974, 1901, 1903, 1886—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Church, Cyril and Methodius providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael”, the useful work is to connect “church building in Manhattan, United States of America” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7392948. Authority coordinates are 40.759, -73.997. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1901, 1903 and 1886.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael primary sources, Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael archive and Church research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Church of Sts. Cyril & Methodius and St. Raphael” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.