Church of St. John the Evangelist ca. 1928

Philip DiFalco constructed this model of an East Side parish church over a period of years while he lived at 304 East 59th Street with his father and sisters. The Church of St. John the Evangelist stood at First Avenue and 55th Street from 1881 into the 1970s. The parish had been founded in 1840, on East 50th Street. News coverage of the church's dedication noted that the edifice was 14th-century Gothic in style designed by architect Arthur Crooks, with a campanile tower on the north end and 18 large stained glass windows imported from Munich.