Is nothing sacred?
Preservationists are raising hell to protect the city’s historic churches as parishes in desirable areas close and developers snatch up the holy properties.
Chelsea neighbors are fighting a proposed 11-story tower above the 150-year-old French Evangelical Church, which has struggled to pay for repairs and sold its air rights to survive. Residents say the plans are “atrocious” and want the Presbytery of New York City to try a Hail Mary.
“It’s not just about the preservation of this block — it’s about all the city’s historic churches,” said Paul Groncki of the 16th Street Block Association.
“They’re an important part of the fabric of our neighborhoods, and we don’t want to see them disappear. This church will disappear if it’s encased in concrete.”
The New York Landmarks Conservancy surveyed 1,200 significant religious sites across the city and found that more than two dozen historically or architecturally important churches have been shuttered or destroyed in the past decade. And Brooklyn parishes are especially in danger, said Ann Friedman, who runs the conservancy’s Sacred Sites program.
“We are going to see a lot of development and loss,” she said. “We can’t just sit back and wring our hands.”
Brooklyn residents near the 148-year-old Church of the Redeemer are praying the Gothic Revival building — steps from the Barclays Center — won’t be razed for condos.
The long-neglected parish closed in 2012, and the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island has planned to sell it ever since.
Neighbors claim they have an anonymous benefactor ready to renovate it but that church bigwigs have balked.
“We’re not upset if it’s not a church anymore,” said neighbor Carolynn DiFiore. “It’s about keeping the building. With all these high-rises that are going in, do we really need another luxury condo?”
Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of New York plans to consolidate its 368 parishes in the largest wave of closings since 2007. Back then, 21 parishes shut down and several faced the wrecking ball.
Midtown’s 144-year-old Church of the Holy Innocents — one of the oldest buildings in the Garment District — is being targeted for closure but could be saved.
The church announced its proposed consolidation in a bulletin last week.
An advisory committee will soon make its recommendations to Timothy Cardinal Dolan, who will reveal his final decisions in September.
Other houses of worship are seeking salvation by putting their buildings on the market.
The rectory of the landmarked Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew in Clinton Hill is for sale for $8.6 million, while Washington Heights’ Wadsworth Avenue Baptist Church is shopping its 88-year-old site for $7.5 million.
Brooklyn’s Recovery House of Worship, a 120-year-old Baptist church on Schermerhorn Street, has been seeking a developer since 2011. Church leaders are open to demolishing the building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The endangered churches include:
Church of the Redeemer
561 Pacific St., Brooklyn
This Episcopal parish is one of the most endangered buildings in the Borough of Churches. Built in 1866, the rugged Gothic Revival structure at the busy corner of Pacific Street and Fourth Avenue is overshadowed by the area’s development — including the Barclays Center, which is steps away.
The English-style church is made of bluestone with sandstone trim, has mammoth stained-glass windows and sits above a subway entrance. But it’s been doomed by neglect and was never landmarked.
In 2012, the building had fallen into such disrepair that the congregation left and the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island announced plans to demolish it.
French Evangelical Church
124 W. 16th St., Chelsea
Built around 1835, the sanctuary was occupied by the Catholic Apostolice Church until 1886, when French immigrants settled in Chelsea and the Église Évangélique Française moved in.
Back then, the church hired an architect to remodel the facade in the German style of Romanesque Revival called Rundbogenstil — which employs simple and smooth facades with rounded arches over the windows.
But over time, the church was painted an ugly maroon shade that “almost smothers form and detail,” according to a guide by the American Institute of Architects.
This year, the Presbyterian church quietly sold its air rights to Einhorn Development Group, which plans to turn the building into an 11-story luxury condo.
St. Vincent de Paul
123 W. 23rd St., Chelsea
This 145-year-old church closed in 2007 as part of the Archdiocese of New York’s realignment.
Home to the city’s French-speaking Catholics, the structure was erected in 1869 and designed by famed architect Henry Engelbert, who renovated Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Mott Street.
In 1939, a new limestone facade with Corinthian columns was built over the original.
Preservationists have tried in vain to save the building, and even former French President Nicolas Sarkozy wrote to the archdiocese on their behalf. The Landmarks Preservation Commission, however, said the replacement facade was not significant.
The building has been vacant and rotting since its last service in January 2013.
Our Lady of Vilnius Church
570 Broome St., Hudson Square
Overlooking the entrance of the Holland Tunnel, this century-old Gothic Revival building was financed by and known as the national parish for Lithuanian immigrants.
The church became a Catholic parish for Portuguese and Filipino immigrants before the archdiocese padlocked it in 2007 — citing dwindling attendance and a roof too expensive to fix.
In 2011, parishioners lost a five-year court battle to save the yellow brick building when the state’s highest court ruled the archdiocese had the right to raze it.
Last year, the church was listed for $13 million and snatched up by Extell Development, which is trying to flip the property for about $20 million.
Church of the Holy Innocents
128 W. 37th St., Garment District
This 148-year-old Midtown parish is being eyed for closure by the archdiocese.
Designed by prolific architect Patrick Keely, the Gothic Revival parish is one of the oldest buildings in the Garment District but isn’t landmarked.
The Catholic parish became known as the “actor’s church” after theaters and publishers flocked nearby in the 1900s. Playwright Eugene O’Neill was baptized there in 1888.
Inside, there’s a mural over the altar designed by Constantino Brumidi, known for his fresco paintings inside the U.S. Capitol. Holy Innocents’ painting was restored in 2011.
Some of the churches destroyed in the past decade:
- St. Ann’s Church, East Village (partially turned into NYU dorm)
- Church of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Kips Bay
- Young Israel Synagogue, Lower East Side
- Bay Ridge United Methodist, Brooklyn
- Glad Tidings Tabernacle, Midtown
- Astoria Presbyterian, Queens
- Mary Help of Christians, East Village
Other endangered churches:
- Our Lady Queen of Angels, East Harlem
- Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue, a former Baptist church, Lower East Side
- Our Lady of Loreto, East New York, Brooklyn
- Church of St. Michael and St. Edward, Fort Greene, Brooklyn
- St. James’ Roman Catholic Church, Two Bridges, Manhattan
- Madison Avenue Baptist Church, parish house, Midtown East
- Recovery House of Worship, Boerum Hill, Brooklynn