Union Church of Pocantico Hills National Register of Historic Places Listing

John D. Rockefeller Jr. funded the construction in 1921. It looks modest. You might pass the fieldstone exterior without a second glance, but the interior holds an art history miracle. Actually, the local Rockefellers just wanted a quiet parish near Kykuit. Then, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller died. Her son Nelson commissioned Henri Matisse to design a memorial rose window. Matisse did it. He cut the bright yellow and blue paper maquette from his bed, finishing it mere days before his death in 1954.

Matisse's window was just the start. When John D. Rockefeller Jr. passed away in 1960, his son David brought in Marc Chagall to create a massive Good Samaritan window. Chagall didn't stop there. He eventually spun deep blue and red light across eight more side windows. This honored other Rockefeller relatives. No other building on earth features this exact combination of Matisse and Chagall stained glass. The space feels incredibly intimate. Sunlight filters through heavy blues and yellows, turning a simple stone nave into a glowing gallery. They listed it in 2006.