Rochester
developer Marvin Maye lost his bid today to have a West Main Street church
taken off the city’s list of historic properties. Maye owns the church but
wants to tear it down so he can build a Dollar General. The historic
designation adds another hurdle for Maye to clear in his push to demolish the
church.
Arguing
before the city’s Zoning Board, a representative for Maye said that the church
has deteriorated so badly that it is no longer eligible for the National
Register of Historic Places. Since it lost that eligibility, Maye’s
representative said, it should come off the city’s list, too.
He also said
that Maye has been unable to find tenants for the church. So if the city does
not allow Maye’s application to proceed, the representative said, it would
essentially be forcing Maye to pay the approximately $600,000 it would cost to
rehab the church without any prospective tenants in the wings.
But unknown
to Maye’s team, the Landmark Society had reapplied to the state Office of
Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and were notified Wednesday, March
20, that the church is once again eligible for the National Register. The church’s
architecture may be in bad shape, says a letter from the state office, but the church
is still a significant part of Rochester’s cultural history. The church is the
one-time home of the German Liederkranz Club, one of only four surviving
buildings “associated with the cultural history of Rochester’s large
German-American community in the 20th century,” the letter says.
The Landmark Society’s Caitlin Meives broke the news about the National Register eligibility
at this morning’s meeting. The Landmark Society and the Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood Association have been fighting to save the
church. The church is
in an area of West Main that has seen a lot of revitalization, advocates say,
and a Dollar General wouldn’t fit in.
Those in
favor of tearing the church say the area needs the goods, the jobs, and that
the building is an eyesore.
In the end,
the Zoning Board upheld the church’s designation as a Building of Historic
Value in the City of Rochester.
This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2013.
It’s not so much about a ‘church’ as it is about what this architecture symbolizes as a cultural building block of the Rochester-German society and its contribution to the success of our region. Kudos to the Rochester Zoning Board and the National Register of Historic Places for supporting our history legacy, and for reminding us of our social values. For me this building still resonates with my dad’s voice as a member of the German Liederkranz Club.
Nice work comrades, soon we can move to destroy capitalism completely.
It is imperative that we as a community seek to preserve and rehabilitate what part of our history we still have left. These places can be anchors for neighborhoods, offering new life, as should be protected at all costs