Ever since it was built in the late 19th century, West Park Presbyterian Church has been at the center of progressive and radical politics, including the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement and nuclear disarmament. It was here in the 1980s, at the height of the AIDS crisis, that God's Love We Deliver was born.
The Upper West Side building was landmarked in 2010, but the red sandstone structure -- “one of the best examples of a Romanesque Revival style religious structure in New York City," according to preservationists -- is crumbling. Church officials say repairs would cost $50 million, which means it could be torn down to make way for a high-rise.
“Essentially what's happened is that the congregation of the West Park Presbyterian Church has in fact run out of money by attempting to keep up this landmark building,” said Roger Leaf, a trustee of the Presbytery of New York City, who serves as chair of the West Park Administrative Commission, the governing body of the church.
But elected officials, community residents and artists are vigorously pushing back, saying the church is too important to be demolished.
