Chris Brown's Sketch House: Moribund Churches

New York is a city of constant change, and every week brings news of another historic building being torn down. But there's one category of building that's in particular danger: churches. There are lots of these old, very big buildings sitting on prime real estate all over the five boroughs, and the fact of the matter is that many have shrinking congregations, and/or are not wealthy enough to maintain those buildings.

One such church is West Park Presbyterian on West 86th St. and Amsterdam Ave. The church has a long history of socially-progressive activism as far back as the 1880s, when it invited in Chinese immigrants at the peak of anti-Asian hysteria, and later was active in the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War protests, the anti-nuclear arms movement, homeless services, and relief during the AIDS epidemic.

The initial building was built in 1854, which was then incorporated into a larger structure in 1890. Built in the Romanesque Revival style and faced in deep red sandstone, it was landmarked in 2010. You might think that its landmark status would protect this building from demolition, and usually it would. But in a twist, it is the church itself that is asking for its landmark status to be revoked so it can be sold to a developer.

Some members of the congregation, including the pastor at the time, had opposed the building being landmarked in the first place. Landmark status doesn't just prevent a structure from being demolished, it also places responsibility on the owner to preserve and maintain it, which can become a significant burden. The West Park congregation has dwindled to about a dozen, and it simply can't afford to maintain the large building, which has significant deterioration. Of course, there's a lot of local opposition to having the church torn down to be replaced by what's sure to be an ugly and soulless (and unaffordable) glass tower, but those persons don't have to come up with the money to restore it. A non-profit arts organization which currently rents space in the church is trying to raise money to purchase it, but that seems like a stretch.

Another church whose demise seems imminent is this one in Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was originally founded as St. Matthews Lutheran by German immigrants. Built in 1895, it was designed by Laurence B. Valk and son Arthur, who were responsible for several other Brooklyn churches. Over the years, the building changed bands several times, becoming St Matthew-Emmanuel Lutheran, then the non-denominational Marantha Temple, and then sold in 1985 to the Mission for Today Holy Tabernacle Church.

Originally the steeple was topped by a pitched roof with a metal cornice featuring gargoyles, with shutters on the steeple windows, and natural buff-color bricks. At some point, the metal cornice, gargoyles, and steeple roof were removed, and the building was painted deep red. I'd guess those changes would have prevented it from ever being landmarked, and now it is pretty run down. It's unclear to me if it houses any congregation now. It looks like there's a pre-school in operation there, and some other community-based organizations. While it's not know what is being planned for the site, demolition plans are already on file.