The Strong Place Church, shown at right in a photo from 1930, has been gradually damaged by water and time over recent years, despite being of great concern to Cobble Hill preservationists. Now the structure is slated for an extensive residential conversion by developers James Plotkin and David Yerushalmi along with Manhattan-based Baxt Ingui Architects. “We could not be more pleased” said C. Murray Adams, President of the Cobble Hill Association. “One of most important churches in the Cobble Hill Historic District has been saved from almost certain destruction by thoughtful, careful adaptive re-use.” We’re all for adaptive re-use but are a little worried by the photos on the architects’ website. There’s nothing to suggest they have any experience actually salvaging and re-using building parts (to the contrary, the apartment shown on their site is downright cheesy), but an email we received said that there will be an attempt to re-use salvageable details. Regardless, the owners are being good sports and holding an open house on Sunday from 1 to 4 for architectural history buffs to get one last look at the interior. Admission is free.
Strong Place Church [NYPL]
Home Page [Baxt Ingui Architects]