According to the Brooklyn Eagle, demolition has officially begun at the site of the much beloved (and sorely embattled) Bay Ridge United Methodist Church.
Otherwise known by the community-at-large as the ‘Green Church,’ after its beautiful and frail serpentine stone: the Eagle reports that the church’s iconic stone clock tower – which has become the most visible symbol of the structure’s frailty and decline – will be the first piece to be disassembled, in what’s likely to be a long and painful demolition process.

The demolition is, as the Eagle reports, expected. However, it is a major disappointment to preservationists who have fought a fierce knock-down drag out battle to preserve the church structure over the past year.

As for the congregation, the demolition of the church structure – which has been home to some 30 parishioners in recent years – is hopefully the final chapter in mourning what has been a particularity painful year for church-goers; one wrought with contempt, scorn, and even slander by a small contingent of local preservationists known as ‘The Committee to Save the Green Church.’

Once the church is demolished, plans by the property’s new owner, Abe Betesch, are said to include the construction of a smaller “Green” church – incorporating state of the art environmentally sustainable technologies – on the lot, alongside the controversial 70+ units of condominiums.

Three ‘alternative proposals’ to saving the church pushed by Councilman Vincent Gentile were resoundingly rejected by the congregation, who maintained their commitment to serving communities and people, rather than simply preserving stone.

Had the congregation obliged the whims of the preservationists, and ‘alternative proposals’ introduced by Councilman Gentile – which entailed halting their hard sale in deference to a non-existent angel investor/buyer, with ‘hope’ for federal grant money – it would have coincided with the very timely collapse of the global economy.

(photo courtesy: Georgine Benvenuto, Brooklyn Eagle)