Wender·Vista
Riverside Church
shown on ceramic, 12-inch tileUnited States
in Morningside Heights, above the Hudson

Riverside Church

— — a Gothic tower with a bourdon under it.

— Where it lives

Not only on a wall.

A small tile on the nightstand catching the morning. A larger one above the fire. Yours, wherever you spend the slow hours.
— On the nightstand, a 6-inch on a walnut stand
— Among the books, a 6-inch leaning into the spines
— Beside the kettle, a 12-inch propped
— Down a quiet hall, an 18-inch floating off the wall
— Above the fire, the 24-inch in a walnut surround
— a note from the studio

“The Riverside Church rises above the Hudson on the western edge of Morningside Heights, a Gothic Revival tower that holds the largest tuned carillon in the world. John D. Rockefeller Jr. funded the build in the late 1920s; Harry Emerson Fosdick preached the first service in 1930. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his Beyond Vietnam speech from this pulpit in April of 1967. On clear Sundays the bells carry several blocks east.

from the studio
Riverside Church
— bring it home

Riverside Church, on ceramic.

Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.

What kind of piece?
One tile — square or rectangle.
How big?
the popular one — counter, shelf, nightstand
6 × 6 in · 15 cm · 1.6 lb
Surface finish
A clear glossy finish — the artwork reads as if under resin. Ideal for show-pieces and framed wall art.
How it sits
A hidden cleat — sits ¼″ proud of the wall.
$58
Hand-finished and shipped from our studio at the foot of the Smokies. On your wall in about ten days.
— size
6 × 6 in
15 cm
— weighs
1.6 lb
solid in the hand
— surface
ceramic, hand-finished
art rests beneath a thin glossy finish
— from
Knoxville, TN
our family studio, at the foot of the Smokies
— start a Coaster Set

Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.

— about Riverside Church

The place, in three passes.

A little of what's known, in case you fall down the rabbit hole — or want to go see it yourself.
— the place

Riverside Church stands at 490 Riverside Drive on the western edge of Morningside Heights in Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River and Riverside Park. John D. Rockefeller Jr. financed construction between 1927 and 1930 as a home for the preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick. The architects Allen, Pelton and Collens drew the building in Gothic Revival, taking the cathedral at Chartres as their visual model. At 392 feet, the bell tower is the tallest of any church in the United States. The congregation is interdenominational, with Baptist and Reformed roots.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the stone

Indiana limestone faces the entire building. The carved west portal echoes the great cathedrals of northern France, with a hierarchy of saints and prophets selected by Fosdick and his wife rather than by a medieval canon. Inside, the nave runs 215 feet to the chancel, with vaulted ceilings of cast stone over a steel frame. The tower is not solid masonry but a riveted steel skeleton clad in limestone, an early twentieth-century engineering choice that allowed the architects to clear the church's full height for the carillon chamber at the top.

— informed by Wikipedia
— the year

April 4 is the date the church marks each year. On that date in 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered Beyond Vietnam from the chancel, a speech that broke publicly with the Johnson administration over the war and lost him much of his press support. Exactly one year later he was killed in Memphis. The church now hosts a public reading on the anniversary every year. Christmas Eve and Easter dawn services fill the nave; the carillon plays for half an hour before each, the bourdon bell carrying east across Morningside Heights.

— where
United States · Manhattan, New York
— position
40.8115° N · 73.9628° W
— the neighborhood

What's nearby.

A handful of named places within an hour's walk or short drive. Some we've already painted; some we will.
1 km E
Columbia University
university
at the lake
Grant's Tomb
monument
at the lake
Riverside Park
park
1 km SE
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
cathedral
N
Riverside Church
Columbia University
Grant's Tomb
Riverside Park
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
— common questions

What people ask.

A few questions we get about Riverside Church — and about bringing the piece home.
— about the place

John D. Rockefeller Jr. paid for the building and the land, between roughly 1927 and 1930. He built it as a home for the preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick, who had left First Presbyterian over doctrine.

The tower rises 392 feet, the tallest of any church in the United States. It is a riveted steel frame clad in Indiana limestone, not solid masonry, which let the architects clear the carillon chamber.

It is the world's largest tuned carillon, housed in the tower of Riverside Church. The instrument carries 74 bells, including a twenty-ton bourdon, the heaviest carillon bell ever cast.

Gothic Revival, with the west portal modelled on Chartres Cathedral. The architects Allen, Pelton and Collens completed the design between 1927 and 1930, using steel framing under limestone cladding rather than traditional load-bearing masonry.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his Beyond Vietnam speech from the chancel on 4 April 1967, publicly opposing the war. Exactly one year later he was killed in Memphis.

Riverside is interdenominational, with Baptist and Reformed roots. It was founded as a home for Harry Emerson Fosdick after the fundamentalist-modernist controversy of the 1920s and remains historically progressive.

— about the piece in your home

It has been a meaningful gift for many of our customers with roots in Morningside Heights or Columbia. A Small or Medium with a handwritten note from the studio carries well.

The limestone and Gothic stonework read warm and traditional. The tile sits well in Classic, Pre-War, and academic-library interiors, anywhere the room already leans toward wood, brass, and book-spine colour.

Yes. The dark-academia and old-money revivals both favour specific landmarks over generic skylines. A tile of Riverside reads more grounded than a Manhattan-bridge print and carries genuine architectural detail.

A single Large reads well above a console or a narrow sofa. For a wider sofa, a four-tile Mural carries the wall, and a nine-tile Mural anchors a full feature wall.

Yes, in the Dura Satin or Matte finish. Both are scratch-resistant and tolerate humidity well, so the tile installs cleanly as a backsplash, shower surround, or framed piece beside a vanity.

A soft microfibre cloth and water are enough. For the glossy finish, a little mild dish soap lifts kitchen residue. Avoid abrasive sponges and any cleaner that contains ammonia or bleach.

Yes. Every WenderVista tile is original to the studio. Reid curates each place, and the visual language is ours alone: no licensing, no third-party imagery, one studio from start to finish.

— if this one stayed with you

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