Jan Hus Playhouse
| Jan Hus Presbyterian Church | |
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Jan Hus Presbyterian Church (2012)
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| 40°46′10.3″N 73°57′19.9″W / 40.769528°N 73.955528°WCoordinates: 40°46′10.3″N 73°57′19.9″W / 40.769528°N 73.955528°W | |
| Location | 351 East 74th Street, New York City, New York 10021-3701 |
| Country | United States |
| Denomination | Presbyterian Church USA |
| Website | www.janhus.org |
| History | |
| Founded | 1877 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Architect(s) | R.H. Robertson |
| Architectural type | Bohemian Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1888 |
Jan Hus Presbyterian Church, located at 351 East 74th Street, New York City, New York, in Manhattan's Upper East Side, is a congregation associated with the Presbyterian Church USA.
The church is named for Jan Hus, a Bohemian priest who was a theologian and reformer. The church is in the area that was once known as Little Bohemia. Once a center of the Czech community, the church now has a diversified inclusionist congregation.
The church runs an active Neighborhood House that promotes music, theater and culture and operates a homeless outreach program. The church basement includes a 150-seat theatre that was home to Gilbert and Sullivan performing groups almost continuously from 1952 to 1975. Chicago City Limits performed there throughout the 1980s. Since then, several arts organizations have been based at the theatre.
The church was founded in 1877 when Gustav Alexy, a Hungarian missionary, felt a calling to work among the Czech community. The building was designed by R.H. Robertson and built in 1888, and bears the inscription "Truth Prevails", a famous Jan Hus saying. The church sits down the block from the Byzantine Moderne-style Greek Orthodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.
When Pastor Alexy died in 1880, the newly official Presbyterian Church asked 21-year-old Vincent Pisek to take over as leader. At the turn of the century Czech families immigrated to America in large numbers settling in New York. The followers of Jan Hus had been persecuted or forced out of Bohemia. Pisek was "free-thinking" and performed marriages between men and women from different ethnic groups. His enthusiasm to help make these marriages was a part of what helped to build his church.
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