Grace Church Van Vorst
39 Erie Street, northwest corner of Second and Erie Streets
Harsimus Cove Neighborhood
National Register of Historic Places
State Register of Historic Places

The Grace Church Van Vorst on Erie Street traces its founding back to 1847. Its congregation first held services at a local Baptist church and then at a church on Grove Street, when it was in the Van Vorst Township from which it took its name. The present location for the church came about as a result of a bequest of lots by four women of the Van Vorst family for the construction of the church. Members of the Van Vorst family continued to be benefactors of the church throughout its development.

It is an English Gothic-style Revival Episcopalian church designed by the architect Detlef Lienau. The one story building is constructed of coursed brown sandstone ashlar with bluestone trim, hammer dressed, with buttresses and ornamental work. Construction for the church began in 1850, and it was consecrated on May 18, 1853.

The church's architect Detlef Lienau (1818-1887) was born in Denmark. He was a founder of the American Institute of Architects and had an office at 111 Broadway in New York City. Lienau was known for the building of homes on Fifth Avenue and for his wealthy clients like August Belmont and the Astors. His first design in Jersey City was a house for his brother Michael (today at Lienau Place in Jersey City Heights) in 1849. He also built the Mechanics and Traders Bank Building in 1859, the original First National Bank building at One Exchange Place in 1864, and the building that became the American Sugar Refinery at 174 Washington Street in 1863. Lienau's brother Michael was a member of the Grace Church Van Vorst congregation and the brother-in-law of Henry A. Booraem, the founder of the parish in 1847. Detlef Lienau lived in Jersey City and married Catherine Van Geissen on May 11, 1853, in the church he designed, a week before its official opening.

The exterior of the church has a pointed slate roof with gables surmounted by stone crosses and a clerestory of fourteen round windows. The baptistry on the southern facade had a groined ceiling and a circular staircase of cut stone. The baptistry is known as the Saint Margaret's Room, where the church archives are stored. In 1864 the church was expanded with two bays to the west; a Baptistry added midway on the south side features a groined ceiling. An iron fence donated by Joseph McCoy was installed around the property in 1872. The 57-foot high, three-story, square tower with embattlement sides features finials surmounted by quatrefoil crosses at each corner and was added in 1912-13. The rectory adjacent to the church was also designed by Lienau in a style similar to the church.

The interior of the church has an open roof with arches resting on twelve solid stone columns. Wainscoting, 173 pews, and other woodwork of black walnut accent the church, as do stained glass windows made in England, France and the United States. The original frescoes, donated by Benjamin Illingworth and John Van Vorst, were painted over in oil by J & R Lamb of New York City at the time of a needed renovation of the church in 1913. A parish hall was attached to the northern facade in 1964, but it is not of the same architectural style as the main church.

Over the years, the parish has been involved with youth programs and other community-oriented outreach efforts such as the Interfaith Community Organization, a coalition of churches in Hudson County.