When the construction fence came down at the old Lutheran church in Greenpoint, the community reacted strongly to its brutalized exterior. The loss of stained glass and the replacement with concrete shocked residents, with one calling it 'an affront to god'. Neighbors tried to save the building from demolition and preserve it as a community space. Although a judge ruled in their favor, activists could not raise sufficient funds. The building ultimately sold for $4.7 million for condo conversion, which community members found disappointing compared to previous tasteful transformations of religious buildings.
When the construction fence came down this month outside the old Lutheran church on McGolrick Park, Greenpoint seemed to let out a collective gasp. The exterior had been brutalized: The stained glass was gone; the gray stone had been replaced by a flat expanse of concrete. And most sinfully, a central window - right over the front entrance - was off-center. Far, far off-center, as if a toddler had drawn it. 'An affront to god,' as one person put it.
The design was a knife twist for neighbors who had rallied in 2023 to save the building from demolition and went to court to block its sale to developers. The congregation behind the 1907 church had, in 2014, handed the building to a 'post-denominational' pastor to use as a kind of progressive public space.
This was one space that was somewhat insulated from the madness of development that is going on in the neighborhood, activist Jamie Hook told the City in 2023. Preserving it as a community space was a long shot, he knew, but 'I just simply move forward with the understanding that if we do nothing, we know what happens.'
The judge sided with the community, but activists failed to raise the cash. In the end, it sold for $4.7 million to a developer who wanted a condo conversion - which seemed better than razing the site.
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