Landmarked Upper West Side Church's Final Fate To Be Mulled Tuesday

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — After five years of stalemate negotiations over a landmarked church, city officials will begin the process of deciding, once and for all, the fate of the red-stone building on West 86th Street at Amsterdam Avenue on Tuesday.

Even though the West-Park Presbyterian Church is in a landmarked church building, it could still be demolished if the city's Landmarks Preservation Committee determines that knocking it down is the only option, under what's called a "hardship" application.

The Presbytery of New York City, which owns the crumbling, scaffolding-clad building, argues that the parish's only option is to sell the building and let developers demolish it, due to financial hardship.

"The church is at the end of its rope. It has no money left and no way forward if the hardship isn’t granted," Roger Leaf, a member of the Presbytery of New York City’s Board of Trustees, said.

Leaf said if the sale of the building goes through, the developers would build a new church space and community space into the new condo building on the site.

However, the Center at West Park, an affordable arts community center backed by several famous actors, including Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson and Matt Dillon, takes a preservationist's stance — that the building can and should be saved.

"I was the one who landmarked it many years ago,” Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer told Patch. Brewer said she wants to preserve the church building as an affordable arts center, rather than pave the way for a high-income condo building.

"We do not need more condos in on the Upper West Side right now," Brewer said.

The final decision now rests with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, which is set to hold a public hearing about the hardship application on Dec. 9, starting around 1:30 p.m., according to the Commission's agenda.

How it started

For the uninitiated, the West-Park Presbyterian Church — an official city landmark — has been around for 135 years, the most recent 20 of them covered in scaffolding near 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

The red-stone church building was, until recently, the home of The Center at West Park, a nonprofit arts and culture hub that has turned the church into an affordable space for cultural programming.

However, in 2022, the church signed a contract valued at $50,000,000 to sell the building to Alchemy Properties contingent on a demolition permit, which would displace the arts organization and knock the landmarked building down.

In 2023, there was a series of hearings with the city, where developers requested permits to demolish the building, which were denied for the time being in early 2024, according to several reports.

The church had decided to sell the church due to economic hardship and the mounting costs of repairing the dilapidated building, Leaf said.

"We determined there was just no practical way to retain and restore the building," Leaf told Patch."The only option that made any sense was to replace it with a new building."

In early July, the Center at West Park was evicted from its home in the church, a move that had to be completed in order for developers to file for demolition permission.

The arts center has been continuing many of its programs — including its performances, festivals and artist space subsidy program — just two blocks away at the Saint Paul and Saint Andrew United Methodist Church, thanks to a recently established partnership.

However, it's not the same as the old venue, Debby Hirshman, the director of the Center at West Park, said.

"This extraordinary landmark is unique in the number of spaces under one roof. It’s what enables the affordability, accessibility, and $10 rentals that artists rely on," Hirshman said.

Tune into the live hearing Tuesday afternoon here.

West-Park Presbyterian Church is located at 165 West 86th St. on the Upper West Side.

Correction: An original version of this article said the Landmarks Preservation Commission would decide on Tuesday. The article has been updated to reflect the fact that Tuesday will only be a public hearing, kicking off the final decision-making process of the Commission.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.