by James Barron, July 19, 2022

“The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated more than 37,000 landmarks large and small, from Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan to a 120-year-old carousel in Forest Park, Queens, preserving them all.

Today it will hold a meeting about doing the opposite — allowing the demolition of a landmark building that, the owner claims, imposes a hardship. The commission has done that only 13 times in the 57 years since it was established.

At issue is the storied West Park Presbyterian Church, which has dominated one corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street since the 1880s. The church wants to go ahead with a deal worth more than $30 million that would replace the structure with an apartment building. Inside the new structure would be a 10,000-square-foot community center that the congregation could use or rent out, just as it now leases its building to an arts group, the Center for West Park.

The church’s proposal has put it at odds with preservationists and with lawmakers, including City Council member Gale Brewer, whose district includes the site.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/19/nyregion/west-park-church-demolition-fight.html