Landmarked Crown Heights Church on the Market as Development Site

A late 19th century Romanesque Revival style Crown Heights church, which was landmarked by the city in the 1970s, is on the market as a potential development site. Part of the site is included in the recent Atlantic Avenue rezoning.

The historic St. Bartholomew’s Church, its rectory, and parish hall, which span three sites between 1227 and 1231 Pacific Street, are being marketed by Ariel Property Advisors as “a unique and architecturally significant development opportunity at the nexus of Bed Stuy and Crown Heights.”

While the church was landmarked by the city in 1974, the two other buildings on site are not protected and could be demolished to make way for new development. Any alternations to the church would have to go through the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. The listing says the single-story parish hall at 1231 Pacific Street is already slated for demolition and would be a “vacant development parcel.”

The listing says that following the passage of the Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use Plan, the property has 181,317 buildable square feet as-of-right and could be used for one “massive flagship development” or a number of “smaller, phased projects.” Air rights from the landmarked church could also be transferred to other nearby projects.

Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen questioned how the landmarked church could be sold off as a development opportunity, and why advocates spent years advocating for landmarking if designation “means nothing.”

“Not only is it one of Brooklyn’s most beautiful churches, designed by an important Brooklyn architect, George P. Chappell, not only does it have a gorgeous interior and a very valuable signed Tiffany landscape window, not only are the rest of the stained glass windows first quality, and not only are the church and rectory one of a kind and unique, it’s also the church I used to attend when I lived in Brooklyn,” Spellen said in an email.

“The church has been a place of worship for primarily Caribbean and African American parishioners for generations. It’s not just a beautiful building, the parish had a long history of helping immigrants, feeding neighbors, and being a place where weddings, and other milestone events have been held. For those raised in the Anglican tradition, it was the only Episcopal church in the neighborhood. The complex shouldn’t be replaced by a soulless glass and steel apartment building.”

Designed by architect George P. Chappell, the church was constructed in phases beginning in 1886. A fire in February of that year destroyed portions of a wooden structure which served as the St. Luke’s Episcopal Chapel. The congregation was determined to rebuild and in July of 1886 laid the cornerstone for a brick structure that incorporated the remaining portions of the wood building until the full design could be completed.

The church was completed in 1890 and dedicated in October. By this time it was no longer a chapel of St. Luke’s. In 1887, the congregation incorporated as St. Bartholomew’s Protestant Episcopal Church. Chappell designed a rectory, also in the Romanesque Revival style, which still stands at 1227 Pacific Street. Plans were announced for a parish house in 1919, at 1231 Pacific Street, with a design by Montrose Morris Sons.

The church itself was designated an individual landmark in 1974 and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Churches across the borough have been offloading real estate for years, driven by soaring property values, dwindling congregations, and aging buildings in need of costly repairs. While many made way for new housing, some structures are repurposed, expanded, or — on rare occasions — preserved and adapted.

In a recent case of the controversial redevelopment of a landmarked Brooklyn church, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a 285-foot residential tower to sprout from the designated Central United Methodist Church on Hanson Place, to the disappointment of many locals. The development was pitched after the church sold the building to an LLC for $15 million in 2024.

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

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• Walkabout: George P. Chappell, Architect
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• Atlantic Avenue Rezoning, Set to Bring Thousands of Homes, Passes City Council

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