Part of a Series on Vincentian Heritage Places

The Battery (8 State Street), New York

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The Battery (8 State Street)
After Elizabeth’s father’s death, the young couple moved into a house at 8 State Street (1801-1803). The home stood at the fashionable southern end of State Street, offering a view of New York Harbor. This location was rich with colonial and post-revolutionary history.

Today, a Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton is located in the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary (built in 1964) which stands on the site of the home on 8 State Street that Elizabeth once shared with her husband William and their children, in the years immediately before her conversion to Catholicism. The church is named for the Mission of Our Lady of the Rosary, which is unrelated to St. Elizabeth Seton but very much in accord with her spirit of charity. Founded in 1883, the mission helped over 100,000 Irish young women find shelter and employment and reconnect with relatives already in America.

The building at 7 State Street serves as the rectory of the Shrine of St. Elizabeth. Completed in 1793, it is one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan and is the only survivor of New York’s first era of great mansions. Its lovely facade has late-Georgian detailing, oval windows in the west wall, and a graceful wooden portico that follows the curve of the street. The tapered Ionic columns are said to be from ships’ masts.

1859 engraving view of State Street fronting the Battery, southern tip of Manhattan island in New York City. D.T. Valentine

7 and 8 State Street as they looked in 1891.

7 and 8 State Street, present day

View of the Battery, New York City. Red arrow points to 8 State Street

All Vincentian Places in this Series

Red = Vincent de Paul, Blue = Frederic Ozanam, Teal = Elizabeth Seton

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