Renovation work is progressing on the Manhattan New York Temple at 125 Columbus Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Originally designed by Schuman, Lichtenstein & Claman in 1976, then redesigned by Frank Fernandez in 2004, the 20,630-square-foot structure is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and is currently undergoing an interior overhaul and façade revision. The property is located at the northeast corner of Columbus Avenue and West 65th Street.
The entire building is shrouded with scaffolding and black netting as crews work to modernize the largely blank exterior with a much lighter envelope utilizing Italian travertine marble and stained glass windows with decorative gold-hued fins. The former corner steeple has been razed, and will be replaced with a taller, gilded spire topped with a 10-foot statue of the angel Moroni. The ground-floor colonnade along Columbus Avenue will also be revamped with floor-to-ceiling glass, hanging light fixtures, and new signage.
125 Columbus Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
125 Columbus Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
125 Columbus Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
125 Columbus Avenue. Photo by Michael Young.
The following Google Street View image shows the conditions of the church before the start of work.
125 Columbus Avenue. Image via Google Maps.
The renovated interiors will contain a baptistry, a public affairs office and distribution center, and a meeting house.
The closest subway from the facility is the 1 train at the 66th Street station along Broadway.
Work on the church began on March 2, 2024. An anticipated completion date is slated for sometime in 2027, as noted on site.
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I get that a church is free to do as they please but this seems like such an underutilized use of space in such a prime location.
You could make the same claim of Lincoln Center.
The Mormon Church is wealthier than a lot of small countries so forfeiting a profitable condo tower on the site isn’t even an issue for them. And unlike some struggling protestant congregation, they take their temples very seriously and would never agree to be the ground floor tenant to a larger development. Plus the lack of prestige and symbolism of such a thing would be a non-starter.
Travertine is not the best exterior material for our freeze-thaw climate, as Lincoln Center found out.