An issue of discussion on the upper west side is the proposal (perhaps real, perhaps only a provocation) by a big 1880's rockfaced brownstone church to tear down its parish hall. Although the structure is a noble, nearly Richardsonian structure, the Landmarks Commission specifically excluded it from its 1989 Upper West Side Historic District - probably to "avoid trouble" and waiting, as is its custom, until it became a preservation battle so that the "troops" ( = angry nearby coop owners) could more easily be mobilized.
Today I have received an email from the local preservation group which is now promoting the Landmark designation of this building, with a meeting labelled "Save West Park Presbyterian Church". It always irritates me when people say they are "saving" something like a church, when in fact they don't much care about the church itself - if the Presbyterians go belly up and the Lutherans move in, it's fine with them - they just care about the church building.
Over these 14 years the parish has been obviously mouldering away, a big building with a struggling congregation - no "community meeting" has been held prior to the pastor's announced desire to demolish a portion of the building - and erect a tall structure which would disturb the neighbors' views.
When I got this solicitation to help "Save the Church" another thought occurred to me. There are 400-600 windows facing the air space created by the church building. If these residents would each pony up $25 per window per year - if their sunlight is really worth that much to them - then they could, indeed, claim to "Save West Park Presbyterian Church".
Episcopally yours, Christopher Gray - who looks out at the mutilated Dalton School
In a message dated 04/25/2003 4:08:56 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:
Community Meeting to
SAVE WEST PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Monday, April 28, 2003