Bay Ridge Church Selling Its Soul For Condos
Given the amount of money that organized religion has plowed into building grandiose architecture throughout history, it was interesting to read Reverend Robert Emerick’s rationalization of why the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church should forsake its own architectural history in favor of condos: “Even if we had the money we shouldn’t be putting it all…
Given the amount of money that organized religion has plowed into building grandiose architecture throughout history, it was interesting to read Reverend Robert Emerick’s rationalization of why the Bay Ridge United Methodist Church should forsake its own architectural history in favor of condos: “Even if we had the money we shouldn’t be putting it all into repairs,” he said. “That’s not what Jesus had in mind.” That’s right, Rev, and Jesus was all about condos! Despite the efforts of preservationists, the 108-year-old green church is close to being sold for $12 million to developers who would build an apartment building on the 24,000-square-foot lot in addition to a new small church for the existing congregation. If art has no connection to spirituality, why stop at destroying the church’s architecture? What about music and fine art? Boo, hiss.
Sacrificing Sanctuary for Condos [NY Daily News]
Forgotten Tour 20: Bay Ridge [Forgotten NY]
I LOVED that house on BR pkwy. I can’t believe it’s gone! I moved from BR to LIC about 3 years ago. I lived 2 blocks away from this church. It is so beautiful and I can’t believe it’s being demolished. Why can’t they demolish the school next door? I would support a 12 story building there if it meant saving the church.
And re: the fedders onslaught, I’m so glad we rezoned so we slowed the process, but homes are still being demolished. A nice one on 68th on my old block is now an ugly new building. Have you been on 91st between 3rd and 4th? OUCH!
I understand some houses are going to go. But they are replaced with absolute shit, and THATS what we should have fought; design quality, in addition to a downzoning. The only decent new building is the glass beauty on Shore Road….if only they all had a budget like that, for REAL bricks and CENTRAL AIR.
Bay Ridge was once beautiful. Now it’s just beautiful in pockets. The 76th street step street is my favorite.
Here we go with another church/religion bullshoot, Church the first/worst corporation ever invented, give me a break and belive in science and yourself…..
Condos for Christ? – for the oldtimers out there.
Condos for Christ? – for the oldtimers out there.
This is just a natural continutaion of the trend that has swept bay ridge in the last 3 years. The neigborhood has become completeley awash, AWASH, in Fedders.
Its truly happened with breathtaking speed. In fact, if you go onto Microsoft virtual earth, and scan over bay ridge, you’ll still see many attractive Victorian mansions and other properties that simply aren’t there anymore. There was a particulary gorgeos Victorian on the corner of 75 st & 10 ave, sitting on a green 100×100 lot. Gone, gone, gone. Replaced by a hardcore Fedders from our friends at Bricolage. I do, however, take some small consolation that several of thier units have been languishing unsold for over a year.
Guess the developers are running out of Victorians to knock down, and are going after churches now. I also like the way they are tossing out the school, despite pretty serious overcrowding conditions in the local public schools from the recent surge in immigration.
The pastor of my church (the thriving and magnificently renovated little St. Boniface in the heart of Metrotech) has a great saying: “Show me your budget, and I’ll show you your theology.”
Dear Mr. B., I feel your pain. In fact, I think you are in good company with many Catholic parishioners who are heartbroken about recent closures of many of their architecturally beautiful churches and the loss of community that involves. I don’t think that it is necessarily a matter of denying the aesthetic connection to spirituality that many of these churches are closing (or selling the structures for condos), but that these beautiful old churches are very expensive to maintain and sometimes cannot be supported by the communities they serve. I am not sure what this pastor meant exactly, but in an awkward way perhaps he was saying that the cost of maintaining the structure might drain limited resources from things that were more directly beneficial to the congregation. I don’t know. I was part of a parish once in Brooklyn which worked tirelessly to save its stunning 150 year old church and its small but vibrant congregation in the face of shifting demographics and a shrinking congregation. It could have been too much for these people in Bay Ridge, I don’t know. It’s sad though. For me, it would be a strange living there – I could never dance at the Limelight either.
what about turning it into a zany nightclub ala limelight?
I win megamillions tonight, I save the church. You heard it here.
http://www.forgotten-ny.com