As the property sits in the East Village/Lower East Side Historic District, the developer needs the approval of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Tonight, Community Board 3's Landmarks Committee will hear about the proposal. (PDF here.)
An overview:
The project entails converting and enlarging the existing church to a mixed-use building. Proposed are 8 residential units within the existing structure, including a new two-story vertical enlargement above and a Community facility space at the cellar level.We are seeking support of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the vertical enlargement with proposed modifications to the entrance for the residences & community facility, windows at the street facade, restoration of masonry street facade & decorative arch trim at the window openings, stepped gable cornice replacement, cornice at the belltower roof, exterior lighting and modifications to the rear facade.
No. 121 started its life here as a house in 1843.
Here's more history via Daytonian in Manhattan:
...on May 10, 1902, The New York Times reported that the Hungarian Reformed Church had purchased the dwelling. The group hired architect and builder Frederick Ebeling to convert the structure to a church building.The building was consecrated in 1903. Within the next year, Ebeling extended church to the property line and incorporated a central bell tower characteristic of a Hungarian country church. The quaint little church had a comfortable overall charm. And yet there was little to hide the fact that this was a house-turned-church.In 1961, when St. Mary's American Orthodox Greek Catholic Church purchased the building, the congregation thought it a good idea to modernize the structure by encasing Ebeling's stone façade in "Naturestone," an artificial stone material.It was not a good idea.Despite the offensive makeover, the little house-turned church retains its charm; a relic of a time when foreign-speaking immigrants drew together in a new land to worship together.
And a look at it in the 1940s via the Museum of the City of New York ...
The Landmarks Committee meeting starts tonight at 6:30 at the Chinatown YMCA/Houston Street Center — 273 Bowery, classroom 1.
Looks great! Rare to see this kind of restoration / addition in New York. Typically it’s either tear the whole thing down or mangle it beyond recognition— or restoration without significant addition. Love to see it.
ReplyDeleteThis actually looks terrible. More trashy construction in a neighborhood already flooded with it. Looks like the butcher job NYU did on Saint Ann's Church on 12th Street.
ReplyDeleteThat was my first thought.
DeleteDoes anyone know when this church had its last service?
ReplyDelete