Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Inside this fort there was a house for the Governor, and outside the walls was a warehouse for furs, and a mill which was run by horse-power, with a large room on the second floor to be used as a church.
"[2] The congregation's first church building, built on what is now Pearl Street in New York City facing the East River, to replace services held in lofts, was a simple timber structure with a gambrel roof and no spire.
In those sources, this claimed as the church that Governor Van Twiller built, which was described as "little better than a barn".
After the fall of New Amsterdam to the English, the structure was reused as a military garrison church for the Anglican faith.
Next day some of the subscribers were sorry they had agreed to give so much, but the Governor accepted no excuses and insisted on the money.
Everardus Bogardus denounced Director-General of New Netherland Willem Kieft's administration during Kieft's War[5] – which was probably the reason the church was moved into the fort in the first place – and where the banished shipwreck survivor Cornelis Melyn returned and caused a writ from the States General to be presented to Petrus Stuyvesant on March 8, 1649.
As Burton describes the confrontation:[6] Melyn appeared at this meeting and demanded that Their High Mightinesses' Letter and the mandamus be read and explained to the people.
In the midst of considerable excitement, Melyn handed the mandamus to Arnoldus van Hardenbergh to be read aloud.
Stuyvesant in a rage snatched the mandamus from van Hardenbergh's hands, and in the confusion the seal was torn off.
Stuyvesant replied: "I honor the States General, and their commission and will obey their commands, and will send an agent to maintain the judgment as it was well and legally pronounced."
The congregation was granted a full charter as the Dutch Church in America by King William III of England on May 19, 1696.
Nathan Silver in Lost New York describes this structure as "a single-mindedly classic Greek Revival church by Isaiah Rogers, perhaps his best work.
[15] The church was built in 1908-09 and was designed by the firm of Nelson & Van Wagenen in the Country Gothic style.
