The city Landmarks Preservation Commission is expected to soon decide whether to revoke the landmark designation of a dilapidated Upper West Side church whose owners say the cost of repairs makes preservation impossible.
West Park Presbyterian Church, a 135-year-old building at Amsterdam Avenue and West 86th Street, has asked the commission to remove its 2010 designation on hardship grounds so the small congregation can demolish the structure and sell the site to developer Alchemy. The church’s administrative arm says the sanctuary requires as much as $40 million in repairs and that the sale — reported at $33.5 million — would fund a new apartment tower that includes modern space for performing-arts use.
The dispute has unfolded over several years, touching on legal battles, fundraising claims and vocal opposition from preservationists, elected officials and arts figures. Supporters of keeping the landmark designation include actors and local politicians who have urged the commission to protect the 19th-century structure; the church and its supporters say the building is beyond practical repair and that the designation condemns it to remain a scaffold-shrouded eyesore.
The conflict traces to a 2018 lease when the tiny congregation allowed a performing-arts group, the Center at West Park (CWP), to use the sanctuary. In 2021 the church engaged Alchemy to evaluate sale and development options after finding emergency repairs were needed to the south wall of the sanctuary and lacking funds to complete them. In 2022 the church asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission to revoke the designation and sought to end CWP’s lease when it expired. CWP contended the lease granted renewal rights; the church disputed that claim and placed its appeal to the commission on hold while litigation proceeded.
A state Supreme Court judge allowed the church to void the arts group’s lease in February 2024, and the decision was unanimously upheld by the Appellate Division. After the court rulings, West Park re-filed its appeal to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. CWP moved its operations to St. Paul and St. Andrew Church at 263 W. 86th Street after its eviction.
Roger Leaf, head of the West Park Administrative Commission, said the building “stood empty and in disrepair, surrounded by a sidewalk shed for over a decade and owned by a congregation with almost no financial resources to maintain it” when it received landmark status in 2010. He said conditions have worsened and cited treacherously uneven floors, an unstable roof and gaps in the weathered sandstone facade on recent inspections.
The arts center’s executive director, Debby Hirshman, has said the CWP raised more than $5 million for repairs, but the church has said the group did not document that claim; the latest financial statement from 2023 provided to the church showed about $121,000 in funding. Representatives for the CWP did not provide comment in response to requests.
Preservation advocates and some local leaders argue the building’s architectural and cultural value warrants protection and that the commission has preserved hundreds of Upper West Side landmarks. The church counters that those preservation efforts do not address its specific financial hardship and that without removal of the designation the building cannot be economically repurposed and will continue to deteriorate.
The dispute has also drawn attention to past examples in Manhattan where philanthropists intervened to rescue and repurpose aging houses of worship. Supporters of demolition note those interventions are rare and that no comparable benefactor has emerged to restore West Park.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission will consider the church’s hardship appeal at an upcoming meeting. A decision to revoke the designation would allow the owners to proceed with plans to sell and redevelop the site; a decision to uphold the designation would keep landmark protections in place and likely require the congregation or another party to fund restoration under the commission’s standards.
The case represents a recurring tension in New York preservation debates: balancing the cultural and historical value of landmarked buildings against the financial realities faced by small congregations and neighborhood organizations. The commission’s decision will determine whether the West 86th Street church can be redeveloped or must remain protected under its century-old designation.
