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The Spaceship Church In Queens


Seeing the blue onion dome from a distance, you’d probably assume St. Nicholas to be your typical Russian church.

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But take a drive down Clintoneville Ave, and you’ll realize the truth…

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Someone has landed a spaceship in Queens and disguised it as a Russian Orthodox church.

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Without question, St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church of Whitestone, Queens is one of my favorite churches in New York City, in part because I’ve simply never seen anything like it.

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The roof is covered in reflective aluminum (?) panels, which not only serve to catch your eye from the ground…

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…but also create an amazing metallic cruciform when viewed from the sky:

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Topping the structure off is an onion dome painted in the most brilliant shade of blue I’ve ever seen on this type of church (perhaps cleverly hiding a laser canon?):

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But it’s not just the roof that makes you feel St. Nicholas is about to blast off. The facade is covered in unusual curves and angles that give it a futuristic feel, a sort of Russian Orthodox by way of Star Wars blast doors motif:

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St. Nicholas was designed by architect Sergei Padukow and built in 1968, replacing a wooden church that had been standing on the site since 1919. I came across it the very first time I had to scout Queens years ago, and I’ve always loved visiting it ever since:

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A side entrance, with an interesting door overhang:

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Another fantastically interesting design on a second side entrance…

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…framing both a wooden door and a vent (for engine exhaust, of course):

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The front of the church, as seen from the street:

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And one final surprise hidden in the rear of the church: the flight deck altar is similarly wrapped in a steel finish:

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And with all the silver coating to the building, you have to admit…

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…this is a pretty appropriate rectory vehicle:

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The interior of the church is more traditional than the outside. Unfortunately, the doors were locked when I passed by on Friday, but you can take a tour on the St Nicholas website here (thanks, r185):

Picture Courtesy St Nicholas – Click for the full gallery!

If you’re in the neighborhood, definitely make it a point to walk by 14-65 Clintonville Ave and see St. Nicholas in person. With its gleaming steel roof and stucco white walls, it’s near impossible to take a bad picture of it.

Just watch out if you hear the engines firing up.

-SCOUT

PS – You know it’s gotta be special if Forgotten-NY creator Kevin Walsh chose to feature it on the back cover of his book!


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22 Comments

  1. I love that you made a comparison to ‘Star Wars blast doors.’ I got what you meant instantly . 🙂

  2. St. Nicholas belongs to an American offshoot of the main Russian Orthodox Church. You can tell because it has pews. “Orthodox” Orthodox churches are standing-room-only.

  3. Wow, I can’t believe that was built in 1968 – it looks like it went up yesterday. Very cool!!

  4. That is absolutely stunning, in every sense of the word. I can’t believe it isn’t used more as an exterior location–that is cah-RAZY.

  5. To me it looks more like they built it using some oversizeda couple of ham cans rather than a spaceship ;^)

  6. I grew up in a heavily Eastern European part of Greater Cleveland where we have lots of Ukrainian, Serbian and some Russian and Greek Orthodox and Byzantine churches. I like the interior of this one, but that outside is odd looking. And I’ve never seen a blue dome before. Hmm, this is making me want to go to a fish fry.

  7. This is one of our favorite bits of architecture in Queens! It does look somewhat like a spaceship, but we can’t get over the fact that the entrance looks like a face! We agree with Tracy, the inside is nice but it sure does not match the outside. There appears to be a couple different design influences applied to this structure.

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