Holy Cross Monastery

New York, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

Find out more

Holy Cross Monastery sits on a 26-acre site overlooking the Hudson River in West Park, New York, serving as the mother house of the Order of the Holy Cross, an Anglican religious community inspired by Benedictine tradition. Designed by Ralph Adams Cram and Henry Vaughan—both renowned for their religious architecture—the monastery combines Mission/Spanish Revival and Tudor-bethan styles. Construction began in 1902 and the complex was dedicated two years later. Beyond the main monastery building, the 1995 National Register-listed property encompasses two guesthouses, the Monastic Church of St. Augustine, and the Monastic Enclosure. The first house established by founder Rev. James Otis Sargent Huntington (who is buried in the church), it now functions as the order's house of formation. The monastery dominates the view westward from the nearby Vanderbilt Mansion and remains active in both contemplative life and progressive social causes, while offering individual and group retreats and operating the Monk's Cell bookshop.