Meeting House for the New York Society of Ethical Culture

[2] Construction for the meeting house began in 1909—nearly a decade after the New York Society for Ethical Culture bought the land on Central Park West between 63rd and 64th streets—and was completed in 1910.

[2][1] The school, which had been completed in 1904, is a five-story, brick building, with large windows facing the expansive Central Park on the other side of the avenue.

[2] However, in 1966, the Society for Ethical Culture, along the Y.M.C.A, which was right beside the meeting house, were approached by a developer and former chairman of the City Planning Commission, William F.R.

Ballard, and offered a deal to complete the strip of buildings on the block (between 63rd and 64th) street in order to put in a forecourt because of the close vicinity to Lincoln Center.

[2] In the late 1970s, the Society for Ethical Culture in New York attempted to annul the landmark statuses for its meeting house and school, both located on Central Park West, because they wanted to redevelop the area.

[4] The Society's leaders were not planning on using the land to advance the wealth of the organization, but rather to fund its charitable and philanthropic efforts as well as the Ethical Culture School, which was the justification for their legal action against the landmark status.

[6] However, the entirety of the exterior is not undecorated: Above the main entrance, there is a relief by Estelle Rumbold Kohn, which depicts eight separate figures, arranged in a vigil.

[6] However, like the exterior, the interior is not entirely plain and undecorated: Inside the meeting house, there is a stained-glass window designed by Louis le Vaillant.