Dear neighbors and friends,
Our once-gracious church at 86th and Amsterdam has been the spiritual home of the West Park Presbyterian Church for over 140 years, but it began to fall into disrepair in the 1980’s and 90’s. Over the years, the cost of maintaining the building, with its fragile sandstone façade, has continued to increase. A sidewalk shed has been in place since 2000 to protect pedestrians from falling debris, and the building had to be closed due to structural damage in 2021. The landmarking of the building in 2010, over the strenuous objections of the congregation, has only made matters worse. The combination of soaring building maintenance costs and a declining membership has threatened to drive the congregation to close its doors for good.
In 2020, the congregation voted to sell the building. It was a decision that was not taken lightly, but after more than two decades of trying to keep up with repairs and waiting for unfulfilled promises of fundraising to come through, not taking this action would have driven this storied congregation into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, we remain wholly committed to a future for the West Park Presbyterian Church that will be made possible by the sale of the property.
To learn more about our plan for the Future of West Park, please click here.