History & Architecture
A love letter in shingle and glass
The Moses Taylor Memorial
Built by Catherine, for Moses
Moses Taylor was one of the great financiers of nineteenth-century New York — president of City Bank, builder of railroads and telegraph lines, and a fixture of the Elberon summer colony. When he died in 1882, his wife Catherine commissioned a memorial unlike any monument of stone: a living church, endowed in his name, where the community he loved could gather each summer.
Inside, a marble bust of Catherine still watches over the sanctuary beside the memorial tablets, and every window in the church was given by the Taylor children in memory of their parents.
Timeline
Fourteen decades by the sea
1882
Financier and philanthropist Moses Taylor dies on May 25. His widow, Catherine A. Taylor, resolves to build a memorial in the seaside resort community of Elberon.
1885
Construction begins on the Moses Taylor Memorial church, attributed to the eminent New York architect Stanford White, then at the height of the American Shingle Style.
1886
The church is dedicated on June 14, “in Loving Memory of Moses B. Taylor by his wife, Catherine A. Taylor.” From its first season, the church is famous for the high order of its musical program.
1880s–90s
Memorial windows are installed — the east and west windows crafted by the Mayer brothers of Munich, Germany; the rose window in the style of Louis Tiffany, a friend of White; the rest by American artisans. Experts have called them the finest 14th-century-style stained glass in the country.
20th century
Distinguished clergy fill the summer pulpit, among them Norman Vincent Peale. The Hilborne Roosevelt organ — 16 stops controlling 988 pipes — accompanies generations of worshippers and wedding parties.
Today
One of only two known summer-only churches on the Shore, Elberon Memorial remains as built: no heat, no air conditioning, and no compromise. Each season it opens its red doors for worship, concerts, and hundreds of weddings.
Craft & Detail
The hand of the maker, everywhere
The best way to experience the church is to stand inside it. Join us for a summer service, a concert — or walk the aisle yourself.