The authoritative source on
  early churches of New Jersey

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We've created a database and photographic inventory on more than half the 18th & 19th century churches in the state and add to it each month. We welcome and solicit all contributions and suggestions from our visitors.

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Saint Peter's Roman Catholic Church
Newark, Essex County

  

Local residents know this as Queen of Angels Catholic Church, but when it was built by German Catholics in 1861, it was named Saint Peter's. The congregation was organized by 1855. Otto Gsanther, a name unknown in standard architectural sources, was the architect. The 1881 History of Essex County provides the following description:

The present church edifice was built in 1861, and its proportions are very symmetrical, and give it a fine exterior, which might have been improved by making the front of stone instead of brick. The style is Gothic; the tower square, with pinnacles. The same symmetry is displayed in the interior as upon the outside; clustered columns with carved capitals support the roof of the nave, while the decorations and figures of the sanctuary and chapels are gotten up with that artistic taste for which the Germans are celebrated. The altar is forty-six feet high, and above the tablet: are figures representing the Law and the Gospel, Moses and Elias, and the four Evangelists. Above these is a large crucifix, with St. Mary and St. John at the foot of the Cross. In arches on each side of this are figures of saints, while above is a figure of the Godhead, and in the fixed arch a representation of the Resurrection.

      National Register.

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Copyright (c) 2001 Frank L. Greenagel