Matt Damon has joined the cast of a benefit performance at West-Park Presbyterian Church on November 16, joining the stage alongside Mark Ruffalo and Missy Yager. Proceeds from the play, Kenneth Lonergan’s “This Is Our Youth,” will go towards the Center at West Park and its campaign to preserve the landmarked church at 165 West 86th Street, the NY Times reports.
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In taking the side of preservation over demolition – which would precede the site’s conversion into a market-rate residential high rise with space for a church, community activities and arts programs – Damon, a former Upper West Side resident, joins celebrities including Mark Ruffalo, Wendell Pierce, Amy Schumer and Common, who all participated in rallies earlier this year to keep the building intact.
“I explained the situation to [Damon] and immediately he said, ‘I’m in,’ which is what I thought he would say if he was available,” Lonergan told the Times. “..and as a matter of fact, he had an apartment one block away from the church for a year or two, maybe. This is going back a ways.” He said Damon wanted to “keep what’s special about the neighborhood special.”
Tickets are going for $500, though sponsorship levels peak at $25,000. A second show scheduled for November 17 will offer some seats on a pay-what-you-wish basis, with a maximum rate of $250 for the priciest seats in the house. Here’s some more info.
The goal is to raise over $300,000 for the Center, in addition to its capital campaign aiming to raise $2 million for building repairs.
Damon agreed to participate in the play to support the cause, as he has a connection to the neighborhood and the play itself, having appeared in a 2022 version of it in London.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has not yet scheduled a vote on the church’s demolition application.
And another Johnny come lately celeb decides to join the other celebs who have ZERO connection to the Church, to save a church that the congregation itself – which actually OWNS the church – wants to sell, demolish, and rebuild with new sanctuary and program space. Funny how “property rights” are the bedrock of ownership rights in the U.S. – EXCEPT for religious buildings. Eventually the “supporters” (not one of whom actually worships in the church) will lose and all they will have done is prolonged the inevitable, no matter how many Johnny come lately celebs they bring in.
$300,000 and even $2MM won’t make a dent solving this structure’s deficiencies.
Time to move on.
Everything dies.
Whether it’s $`1.7 million (a ridiculously lowball figure) or $20 million or $30 million or $50 million, unless these celebs want to pay for the whole thing themselves (i.e. buy the building, including all of its debts), then it’s just a big game to them, and they should STFU and go away.
Let the congregation do what it wants: THEY own the building, so it is THEIR property and THEIRS to do with as they please. To say nothing of the impingement on their First Amendment right to practice their religion in the best way they see fit. If that means tearing down the building and getting a new one with appropriate sanctuary and program space, then so be it, No one should have ANY say in this except the congregation and the owners of the building (which probably includes the Presbytery).
Period. End of story.
I’m pretty sure the scaffold has been surrounding the church and street since I moved to the UWS in 2015 or so. Who owns the building? Should they be fined, have they been? OR are religious establishments, schools, and NYCHA forever exempt? If it is in such bad condition is it safe for any event or worship?
If it is so beloved why haven’t the people who claim to love it gone into their own pockets to repair and make it a safe environment?
??preservation vs. crime, homelessness, mixed-use purposes, worship (when do they attend church, is at all)??
No one is exempt from the law regarding the placement of sidewalk sheds and/or scaffolding. But the shed cannot come down if the building remains a danger, and the building cannot be repaired if the owners (likely the Presbytery) cannot afford those repairs.
So it is in something of limbo until someone comes forward willing to purchase the building, including its debts (which include the repairs). This is why the Church wants – needs – to sell, Because there IS an interested buyer. If the LPC gets the hell out of the way and allows the demolition and rebuild, the sidewalk shed will serve its actual function, as work begins on demolition.
Unless the Landmarks Commission radically revises its requrements to fix this church, the church is a goner. There is no way to raise anywhere near even the lower estimates of the cost to repair.
The Landmarks Commission’s requirements are unduly onerous, expensive, difficult to undertake. It needs to balance costs and benefits, or this church will be demolished, and the Landmarks Districts of the Upper West Side will continue to be shrouded in scaffolding – forever.
The LPC was founded with the best of intentions, in the wake of the demolition of two beloved buildings (including Penn Station). However, over the years, it has become increasingly (and overly) complicated and moribund. And its rules have become increasingly onerous for property owners in landmarked buildings or historic districts.
It may well be time to revamp the LPC entirely.
Amen.
To tear down this building for the purpose of high rise living for the extremely wealthy does not sound very Christian to me. Id hope that affordable middle class apartments would be part of the plans for that space. The las thing we need is another glass tribute to the super wealthy.
In a “normal” situation, that might actually be possible via “80/20” and other housing rules. However, because the developer is providing sanctuary space, plus program space for the church, I doubt they could make back their investment if they ALSO included “affordable” housing.
I would add that the “Christian” component would come through the continued work of the Church, via its outreach and in-house program space.
I’m reminded of the memorable quote from Team America … “Matt Damon!!!”