Conservancy Continues to Seek Solution for Recently Landmarked West-Park Presbyterian Church
An outstanding example of late 19th century religious architecture, West-Park Presbyterian Church on West End Avenue and 86th Street achieved landmark status with a unanimous vote by New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on Jan 12.
Henry Kilburn designed the church in 1890 while Leopold Eidlitz designed what is now the community house six years earlier.
The Conservancy supported the designation, but landmarking alone is not the answer here. We have been working for nine years with the West Park clergy, City officials, congregation, and neighbors to try to resolve the long-term maintenance issues of this magnificent Renaissance Revival building.
Various development schemes have come and gone and there is still no viable use for the now empty building. With decades of deferred maintenance and a monumental tower in dire condition, the dwindling congregation now worships a block away at another church. Any prospective buyer will have to spend millions to stabilize the exterior envelope alone.
The church first contacted the Conservancy’s Sacred Sites staff in 2001 about minimal, interim masonry facade repairs. Its endowment was dwindling rapidly, and even with an initial Conservancy pledge of a $10,000 grant, the church could not amass sufficient funds for the project.
In 2003, the Conservancy learned the congregation was exploring demolition and redevelopment to raise funds. Working with a coalition of congregational leadership, the Presbytery, West Side City Council member Gale Brewer, Landmark West!, and community members, the Conservancy sought a solution that would retain the historic church and meet the congregation’s funding needs.
Since then we have reviewed various plans that called for everything from retaining the exterior but totally reconfiguring the interior to erecting a residential tower that included affordable housing on the site of the community house.
Neither the congregation nor the Presbytery supported the designation. The Presbytery has been, and remains, interested in selling the property. If the congregation filed for hardship, the entire structure could still be lost.
The Conservancy will continue to work with all the interested parties to see if a solution can be found.
