Earlier today on Avenue A

At 11th Street. Photos by Shawn Chittle.

Is this finally the end for the Mary Help of Christians Catholic church on East 12th Street?

From a parishioner at Mary Help of Christians on East 12th Street:

There are rumors that the church and school property are being sold by the Spring ... I'm afraid that NYU is buying it and going to build dorms.

We haven't heard much about this space in the last three years. Those in the know in the community are most certain that NYU isn't involved. (We asked NYU spokesperson John Beckman, though we haven't heard back just yet.)

Still, there is some precedent for the worry. In February 2004, the archdiocese sold St. Ann’s on East 12th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue for a reported $15 million. There is now a 26-story NYU dorm at the site. But that was before the 111-block rezone.

[Image via]

Let's go back a few years. In May 2007, The New York Times reported that the 109-year-old Roman Catholic church would close as part of a realignment by the Archdiocese of New York. Per the Times:

While this East Village church will continue to have two Sunday Masses for the immediate future, they will be overseen by a different church, Immaculate Conception on 14th Street and First Avenue.

In September 2008, The Real Deal reported that "Two thirds of a 15,000-square-foot East Village playground ... is under contract in a quiet, all-cash sale for $10.4 million."

The playground — home to the weekend flea market — is divided into three ownership lots, according to The Real Deal. Two of the parcels are (or were) owned by a Roman Catholic order called the Salesian Society. The Archdiocese owns the church located on a 13,000-square-foot lot.

Joseph Zwilling, spokesperson for the New York Archdiocese, didn't respond to an email seeking comment.

Meanwhile, for whatever reasons, the parishioners are hearing the rumors of the church's demise once again. Perhaps with the continued progress at St. Brigid's on Avenue B — one optimistic estimate had the church's renovations complete by the end of next summer — Mary Help of Christians is becoming expendable.

The church in 1920 via the NYPL Digital Gallery ...

Along for the ride

At the Mary Help of Christians flea market today. Photo by Bobby Williams.

Mary Help of Christians flea market back in action

Been off here this winter on Avenue A at 11th Street...

... not all the vendors have returned just yet, though...

Previously.

...or not

EV Grieve correspondent Shawn Chittle notes the Mary Help of Christians Flea Market on Avenue A and 11th Street didn't return today as the sign notes...of course, there's still snow cover on the lot...

Day 2 of the Mary Help of Christians flea market

The first three photos from yesterday here are from EV Grieve contributor Blue Glass... dunno who the last one came from... Anyway, 8 to 5 today at 11th Street and Avenue A...

Welcome to the Mary Help of Christians flea market

I'll go back later....but it's on.

Why the Kobe Bryant video game mural was removed

As we reported last week, the Kobe Bryant video game ad on Avenue A near 12th Street was painted over by workers... The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) has more on what happened here in its most recent update (second item):

GVSHP and the East Village Community Coalition had long called upon the city to take action against the billboard which violated zoning regulations and, which some argued, violated an agreement to maintain the community mural for 10 years. Following complaints about the billboard from GVSHP and many others, and a great deal of attention from blog EV Grieve, the City inspected the site, issued several violations, and scheduled hearings on the violations. The sign was finally removed in late March.

And thanks to Christine Champagne at MediaPost for digging into the background of this wall in a feature last December.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Kobe Bryant's slam chunk

Searching for the truth about the cats and dogs mural on Avenue A

Game over for Kobe Bryant video game ad on Avenue A

So, you know, back in the fall, we devoted a few hundred several posts to Chico's "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 12th Street that was painted over for a Kobe Bryant video game ad.



Anyway, last week, workers painted over the Kobe ad...




So what will we see next on the wall? I'm going with a Vans ad.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Kobe Bryant's slam chunk

Searching for the truth about the cats and dogs mural on Avenue A

Kobe Bryant's slam chunk

Our obsession interest in the former spay/neuter wall on Avenue A near 12th Street continues. As we pointed out the other day, the building's landlord, Desides Weinberg, was critical of the spay/neuter mural because it had not been properly maintained through the years... As Media magazine reported, chunks of the mural had fallen off the side of the building over the years.

Fine. As an EV Grieve reader pointed out...have you looked at the new mural here lately?

Searching for the truth about the cats and dogs mural on Avenue A

Back in the fall, we devoted several posts to Chico's "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 12th Street that was painted over for a Kobe Bryant video game ad.

Interestingly enough, Media magazine reported on the story. (Thanks to the reporter, Christine Champagne, who reached out to me for the article.) Here are portions of the piece (you can find the whole thing right here):

For nine years, cats and dogs loomed large over a parking lot on Avenue A as part of an iconic Advocates for Animals mural on the side of a tenement building in Manhattan's East Village. Created by well-known local muralist Chico, the mural tugged at the heartstrings with an assortment of animals — including a sweet kitty with pleading eyes and a trusty German Shepherd — urging local residents to spay and neuter their pets, and providing a number to call for assistance.

But the mural, which can be seen in the opening moments of the 2005 film "Winter Passing," was whitewashed this fall and replaced with an ad for 2K Sports' NBA 2K10 basketball video game, and now NBA superstar Kobe Bryant looms large on the wall.

For her part, Irene Muschel, a social worker and animal activist who runs Advocates for Animals, and hired Chico to paint the mural back in April 2000, didn't even know it had been covered up until MEDIA contacted her.

Muschel claimed that the landlord of 189 Avenue A, Desides Weinberg, was contractually obligated — "We had a legal contract drawn up by an attorney and signed by me, Chico and the landlord" — to keep the Animals for Advocates mural up for 10 years. If that's the case, the mural should have stayed in place until April 2010. "About a year ago, the landlord that signed the contract called me about how he needed income, and he said there was an advertiser who wanted to put something up there, and would I go along with it," Muschel recalls. "I said no, actually, and I had contacted a lawyer. But then it just faded away."

For his part, Weinberg repeatedly insisted that the contract Muschel speaks of was a "phony contract." He also faulted Muschel for not properly maintaining the mural, pointing out that chunks of it had fallen off the side of the building over the years.

One has to wonder: Did New York-based KD&E Advertising, which did the media buy for the NBA 2K10 campaign, realize the ad would replace a mural that had special meaning to East Village residents? KD&E did not return calls or respond to efforts made to reach someone at the agency on MEDIA's behalf by a representative for 72andsunny, the creative agency on the campaign.

Muschel says she is not going to pursue the matter legally or otherwise, instead choosing to focus on the good the mural did. "The mural helped a great many animals get spayed and neutered and provided answers on a wide variety of animal issues to people who called," she muses. "It did its work."

Previously on EV Grieve:
NBA ad takes over

NBA ad takes over

Work on Chico's former "spay/neuter" mural on Avenue A near 12th Street is nearly complete. Here's how it looked last Sunday...



..and now...the NBA video game has come to life.





Previously.

But of course

The Real Deal reports (via Curbed):

Two thirds of a 15,000-square-foot East Village playground that was home to a popular flea market is under contract in a quiet, all-cash sale for $10.4 million to the Archdiocese of New York, court documents said.

The playground, divided into three ownership lots, is adjacent to the shuttered Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church on the east side of Avenue A between 11th and 12th streets. The Archdiocese owns the church located on a 13,000 square foot lot, city records show.

The Archdiocese did not respond to requests for comment, but real estate professionals speculated the church parcel and playground would be sold and developed into residential housing.

For further reading:
The Church Ladies (The New York Times)

[Photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times]