New York Avenue Presbyterian Church

After holding initial worship services in the U.S. Treasury building, in 1807 the congregation began meeting, still under the leadership of Dr. Laurie, in an imposing brick building that stood where the F Street entrance to the Willard Hotel today opens on to Peacock Alley—just two blocks from the church's present location on New York Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, NW.

These members found their church too distant for regular attendance over the often muddy streets connecting the White House area and Georgetown.

Andrew Jackson’s wife described Baker as "a fine, plain preacher," and John Quincy Adams was an early pew holder as Secretary of State and ultimately served as a trustee.

Not surprisingly, the new church was erected with a bold vision for the future, for although its membership stood at 291, the new sanctuary and a gallery added later accommodated more than three times that number.

In addition to Adams, Jackson, and Lincoln, other Presidents attended services, including William Henry Harrison, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Benjamin Harrison, Dwight David Eisenhower, and Richard Milhous Nixon, as well as members of Presidential Cabinets, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

And more than that, in the latter days of his chastened and weary life, after the death of his son Willie, and his visit to the battlefield of Gettysburg, he said, with tears in his eyes, that he had lost confidence in everything but God, and that he now believed his heart was changed, and that he loved the Savior, and, if he was not deceived in himself, it was his intention soon to make a profession of religion."

The sermon, titled "A New Birth of Freedom," is credited with prompting the U.S. Congress to amend the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States, inserting the phrase Lincoln used at Gettysburg, "under God."

New York Avenue’s pastor and members serve in the community as active participants in the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN), a local advocacy organization.

For several years, First Havana and New York Avenue’s congregations have reached out to one another, developing friendships and, more recently as downtown churches in capital cities, intentionally modeling reconciliation for their respective nations.

In January 2010, the church inaugurated a new, 3-manual, 63-rank Schlueter pipe organ,[4] with the dedicatory concert performed by virtuoso organist Douglas Major.