St. John’s Church was built in 1869-71 and designed by the prominent architect, Arthur D. Gilman, best known in New York City for his work on the old Equitable Life Assurance Building which formerly stood at 20 Broad Street.
In its style and setting, this charming Church is reminiscent of an English parish church; its prototype is said to have been Holy Trinity, a medieval church, in Stratford-on-Avon, but its detail is Victorian Gothic. This handsome rose-colored granite building is dominated by a tower surmounted by a high spire above the crossing. The spire has always been a prominent landmark for ships coming through the Narrows along the shore of Staten Island, and the church bells tolled a welcome to troopships returning from Europe after World War I.