The Riverside Church

"This church used to have security guards that are nice, if the church is not open and those guards would explain it to you nicely why you are not allowed to go in. Nowadays, it seemed the church has hired many rude, nasty, ghetto people that even when the church door is open, the first thing they asked is "how may I help you," then before anyone can reply, those guards would just snapped "oh that's right, bye! Bye! Bye! You need to go! Bye!" Roger that! We must be wander into the wrong neighborhood then. This is a church? What a joke! Do not bother to go to this church. I won't anymore. Do not donate money or host event at this church. Do not give business to this church. I gave money to this church before, and this how this church treat people nowadays. I will not give any money to this church any more. Riverside Church, you have a lot of internal "clean up" to do. You need to get rid of the "bad apples" of your staff or train them better. It's difficult for people to want to come to your church when your staff are sabotaging your reputations, and words do travel."

"May be a holy place but rude and definitely not ADA compliant. I went here with my friend to attend her sister's graduation ceremony. My friend has muscular dystrophy (and was also suffering from a bruised tibia after an injury) and can therefore not climb stairs and has to take frequent breaks when walking. We arrived at the church an hour early in order to locate accessible entrance and take our time walking inside. We attempted to enter from the Claremont Ave entrance, a staff member told us to use the Riverside entrance if we were attending the graduation ceremony. We asked him whether the other side had an accessible entrance, and he replied that my friend is not in a wheelchair and that the other entrance only had 3 steps (which is wrong -- there were 7 steps). We insisted that we use the accessible entrance, and he let us through, only to be met with another staff member who claimed to be the building manager who told us off for coming in through the Claremont entrance. After we explained my friend's condition, he said that we had to use the other side and that it was accessible. I explicitly asked whether he was sure that the other side had an accessible entrance, he snapped back at me that we should not question him because he is the building manager. Since we were physically not allowed to enter from the Claremont side, we exited and walked around the block (during which my friend had to take multiple breaks and was exhausted), only to find that there was no accessible entrance after all. What is wrong with the staff members? This was clearly not a misunderstanding, and if my friend requests an accessible entrance, she should be granted one without further questions. Really shameful."

"The church is lovely, but the building manager at the church was incredibly rude, dismissive, and ableist, forcing me to endanger my health. A family member had a high school graduation at the church and we were trying to find an accessible entrance to the venue since I cannot physically make it up any stairs due to my muscular dystrophy and a recently bruised tibia from a bad fall. I needed a ramp to get into the building safely, but the building manager (he insisted he knew the entire building layout) forced us to go all the way around to the other side of the church where the graduation line was, saying there was definitely an accessible entrance located on the other side. There was not, and the school administrators that were there said the only accessible entrance was the one on the side we initially went to. The building manager could not believe that I had health issues as a young person, and automatically assumed I was faking it. He physically barred us from the accessible entrance and yelled at us for even asking about the accessibility measures at the venue. It was incredibly shocking and disappointing to see a member of the community treating people like this, especially when we were simply trying to figure out how to safely access the church. It is also wildly inappropriate to assume people's health and ability on appearances alone, especially in this day and age. If you have a disability that is not as obvious as being in a wheelchair, you can expect to be challenged and harassed for not being "actually disabled.""

"I visited this place as the New York Philharmonic performed Handel's Messiah. This was the first time I visited and I found myself completely enamored by the decor and architecture. Everything has a significant amount of detail and the main cathedral provided an excellent acoustic experience."

"Thank you John D. Rockefeller for giving this beautiful church to New York City. It is a place of inspiration and beauty. I will miss seeing the loft spire from my penthouse terrace, but alas, I am leaving New York permanently after many years of living in the city. I walked across the street after visiting Grant's Tomb to visit the Riverside Church, nicely sited on Riverside Drive with a good Hudson River view. Nearby are the Manhattan School of Music, the Union Theological Seminary, Columbia University, Barnard College and Grant's Tomb. Inside is a work of art. It is quiet and peaceful place to reflect or worship, regardless of your religion."