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THE WEEK OF JANUARY 12, 2006
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Maspeth Landmark Faces Wrecking Ball
by Robert Pozarycki
The next bells that may sound from what was once St. Saviour’s Church in Maspeth might be a death knell, as developers seek to demolish the historic former Episcopalian house of worship.
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Clouds may be on the horizon for what was once St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Maspeth. The property located on Rust Street and 57th Road has been a gathering place for the faithful for over 150 years. Developers have purchased the site from a Korean Methodist congregation, and are now in the preliminary stages of having the one-square block property rezoned to accommodate the development of new housing in its place. (photo: Robert Pozarycki)
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Before this could happen, Nunziato told the Times Newsweekly, the zoning of the area would need to be changed: “It is currently zoned for light industrial structures, but the developers are now seeking to make it R5B.”
If the request is accepted by city and community leaders, he added, the R5B zoning could allow for an estimated 30 to 40 attached homes to be constructed on that plot of land.
A preliminary application to rezone the church property is being reviewed by the Queens office of the Department of City Planning, according to Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5. He told the Times Newsweekly that legal counsel representing the applicant is willing to talk with members of the board’s Land Use Committee in order to discuss plans for the site.
The church along with other structures on the land, meanwhile, sit empty, with dumpsters lying on the property nearby. Though no demolition permits for the property have been filed with Board 5 as of press time, the prospect of new development may signal the beginning of the end for the site.
“The historical factor on that lot is incredible,” Nunziato said. “It is the oldest church in Maspeth.” The surrounding wooded lot, he said, makes the property seem “like time untouched” in the midst of different kinds of industry.
Construction of St. Saviour’s Church began in 1847 by members of the Episcopal Church. According to James Driscoll of the Queens Historical Society, the church was built at a time when Maspeth served as an affluent rural suburb of New York City.
“It was a very prominent area,” Driscoll told the Times Newsweekly. “DeWitt Clinton used to have a summer house in the area,” noting that the former mayor and governor of New York’s country home was actually located adjacent to the church lot.
Clinton’s son-in-law, Judge David Jones, helped to found the church along with a prominent Maspeth businessman, James Maurice. According to Driscoll, Maurice’s father, Frederick, had once owned the property where the church was erected.
An edition of the Long Island Star Journal from 1948 noted that the wood-frame church had been consecrated one hundred years earlier. The church continued to serve the faithful, even as the congregation dwindled and industrial businesses came into the surrounding area.
The original structure was destroyed by a fire prior to Christmas in 1970. It was rebuilt and rededicated by the Episcopal Diocese almost 18 months later in April 1972.
After nearly 150 years of affiliation with the Episcopal Church, St. Saviour’s parish closed in 1995, according to Nunziato. The property was then sold to a Korean Methodist congregation and re-established as the San Sung Korean Methodist Church. It had been used by the congregation prior to its recent sale to developers.
With development in the preliminary stages, Nunziato noted, Maspeth seems poised to lose another historic structure to the wrecking ball: “The church as only now been rebuilt to its glory. It is one square block of history. We have to see what the developers are going to do.”