House of Worship

On East 2nd Street between 2nd Ave. and 1st Ave. is The Cathedral of Holy Virgin Protection Orthodox Church in America.  Orthodoxy came to America over the Bering Strait in the 19th Century.  It moved down to the lower 48 with it's home base in San Francisco.  In 1917 with the turmoil in Russia many immigrants came to New York and New York became the seat of Orthodoxy.  The Cathedral is the center for the Greek, Russian, Serbian, Antiochian, Ukrainian, Carpatho Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Albanian Orthodox churches of America in the metropolitan New York area.

It was built in 1867 by Josiah Cady, a well respected architect who founded the firm Cady, Berg & See, and worked on the American Museum of Natural History, The original Metropolitan Opera House, demolished in 1967 and many other great buildings in and around New York.  But I don't think he added this?

                                                                   A neon crucifix
The church is across the street from the NY Marble Cemetery.  So the sign doesn't keep anybody up at night.