The full campus of St. Michael’s Church at 225 West 99th street won landmark status from the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday, despite some concern at the church that the restrictions could make it harder to update the campus in the years ahead.
The church building was constructed in 1890-91. “The church is well known for its series of Tiffany windows and for its acoustics,” according to the staff report from the LPC.
The church had been on a list of possible landmarks since at least 1980; its designation was expedited after the LPC attempted to clear the landmarks backlog earlier this year.
What a shame. Those on the outside have no idea what a burden this imposes on a church. Routine maintenance become a nightmare, not to mention major capital repairs. It’s easy for Upper West Siders and municipal committees to weigh in on the issue because they are concerned about an aspect of “their” city or “their” neighborhood landmark (and OMG we have to protect co-op property values, don’t we?). But unless you are a member of a congregation, you have NO idea what a hardship this creates for an individual parish, most of which are not generously endowed. Are all these well-intended outsiders going to pay for the costs involved in maintaining a landmark according to landmark preservations rules? If the roof needs painting or tiles needs to be replaced, you can’t use any old (affordable) paint or material from Home Depot. No — it has to match the original color or consistency exactly, which means it has to be custom mixed or custom designed, or ordered from italy, and the work must executed by an expert in historic preservation, who probably first needs to be approved by the landmark preservation committee
I have no “skin the game” — I don’t care whether St. Michael’s attains landmark status or not, and had not heard it was being considered for such until this article — but I found Comment 1 (by Shrinkwrap) to be truly eye-opening. I had never given a moment’s thought to the potential downsides of reaching what would ostensibly be a triumph (landmark status). The very phrase “landmark status” has always held a strongly positive connotation for me, conferring upon its designated structures an aura of historical gravity, austerity, importance. Now, I shall also hear in my mind: extra costs and headaches. Fascinating!