The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is set to review a proposal for the demolition of West-Park Presbyterian Church at 165 West 86th Street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Submitted by Alchemy Properties and the West Park Administrative Commission, the application cites unsound structural conditions in the Romanesque Revival building as well as the church administration’s financial hardship under Administrative Code § 25-309(2). The property is located between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues.
Following demolition, Alchemy Properties plans to construct a 20-story mixed-use development in its place.
The church building, designed by architect Henry Kilburn and completed in 1890 with a red sandstone façade and bell tower, was designated an individual landmark in 2010. The structure has suffered decades of deterioration, and numerous Department of Buildings violations and engineering assessments document façade spalling, structural instability, and safety hazards.
The church has spent more than $700,000 on emergency repairs since 2010 but lacks the estimated $55 million needed to make the building code-compliant and usable. Membership has dwindled to approximately a dozen congregants, and the church currently operates without a full-time pastor or regular in-person services.
Revealed under a purchase agreement signed in March 2022, Alchemy’s plans for the new building will include ground-floor retail, residential units, and approximately 10,000 square feet of dedicated community and arts space to be retained by the church. All existing tenants are scheduled to vacate by the end of 2025, and demolition would begin following court and Commission approvals.
The site is located one block east of the 1 train at the 86th Street Station.
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$55-million to get code compliant-Wow. Only a dozen or so congregants, Unfortunally it seems it met its final days.
American Romanesque Revival is one of my favorite architectural styles. Unfortunately, sandstone/brownstone has what art restorers term “inherent vice.” The rock face ashlar tends to hide spalling. I will be sorry to see this go, but I see little alternative.
It might sound like architecture macabre but a nice and appropriate gesture they could make out of an unfortunate loss like this would be to salvage some of the best intact materials and ornament and reincorporate in an inventive way on the new development.
save the building.
dont reward their years of allowing it to crumble with no maintenance.
they can sell it – a school, a gym, hey another Limelight.
there was a synagogue on 79th and Columbus in the 1980s that got torn down and should have been landmarked
The church has no money. That’s why they couldn’t maintain it.
A sad state of affairs that this beautiful neighborhood landmarked cannot be repurposed into multiple uses and kept alive. There are many other neighborhood sites being redeveloped into housing.
Up to 10,000 churches closed in 2024, this year even more are projected to close. Losing these buildings is to erase part of our history, but saving them will continue to be a challenge until cities get serious about doing so.
This crumbling building has been in limbo for so many years and according to engineers is virtually un-fixable without massive amounts of money that nobody is willing/able to invest. How many more years do people want this eyesore to remain that mostly just invites the homeless and mentally unstable to congregate under the scaffolding? Many neighborhood residents are fearful of just walking on that sidewalk. Time for it to go and have it replaced with something new and hopefully architecturally significant that provides both market rate and some affordable housing to that corner.
A lot, if not most, of these “preservationists” who attend the Landmarks board meetings in their attempts to “save” historic structures seem to disappear after the board make their decision, leaving the owners of the buildings holding the bag of repairs (some which are “emergency” repairs) and long-term maintenance, as well as lawsuits from those who may be injured as the building further deteriorates.
Make the “preservationist” commit their time and money to these decrepit buildings, along with the owners, and see how many show up at the next Landmarks meeting.
There are times when you just have to let them go, and this church is one of those.
It is a dangerous eye sore for decades. Tear it down and build apartments.
Some appropriate building names for the church’s inevitable condominium replacement should be The Calvin, Knox or Witherspoon.
What is the budget of the development proposal, and how many units are they adding? How much are they paying for the lot? Who receives the payment for the lot?
$55 million sounds like a lot of money until you realize this is a likely a $350 million development for what will inevitably be 30 “luxury condominiums”.
Let them develop the existing building into residences and retail. Probably less lucrative development, but that is why we have the LPC.
Let’s face it: the building is obsolete and falling down, and no one is stepping forward with $55 to fix it. And then what about the costs of keeping it going in the future? I realize people have terrible feelings about tearing down any church, but with a dozen congregants in a falling-down building? This is simply not the place for a church to flourish.
Let’s face it: the building is obsolete and falling down, and no one is stepping forward with $55 to fix it. And then what about the costs of keeping it going in the future? I realize people have terrible feelings about tearing down any church, but with a dozen congregants in a falling-down building? This is simply not the place for a church to flourish.
I’m praying that any architectural details, ie. stained glass windows, pews, etc. will be salvaged for other uses before demolition begins… unlike the recent destruction of the
White House East Wing, which resulted in truck loads of “debris” being sent to a public
golf course, to be sorted later?!