STOP THE DEMOLITION!
save west park Presbyterian Church
NYC NEEDS WEST PARK! STAND UP FOR AFFORDABILITY, INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY, & COMMUNITY FOR OUR CITY!
West Park Presbyterian Church—a 135-year-old building landmarked in 2010—is at risk of demolition. The church congregation is working with a commercial developer have the building’s landmark status removed so that they can sell the building for more than $30 million dollars and the developer can replace the building with a luxury high-rise.
Stand up to ensure that West Park Presbyterian Church remains a vital hub for arts, culture, community, and worship for centuries to come! Our city needs affordable community spaces for New Yorkers of all backgrounds, and when they disappear, they don’t come back. Protect this irreplaceable building and Stop the Demolition!
WHY STOP THE DEMOLITION?
WEST PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH HAS ALWAYS BEEN A COMMUNITY ANCHOR
Since its construction in 1889, West Park Presbyterian Church has been a home for community, activism, arts, and workshop, all side-by-side:
In 1978, West Park led the way in openly welcoming LGBTQ+ members as part of the More Light Movement.
From 1980 to 1985, West Park was home to The Shakespeare Center and the renowned Riverside Shakespeare Company, supported by The Public Theater’s Joseph Papp.
From 1987 to 1991, God’s Love We Deliver worked out of West Park’s kitchen to serve up to 250 meals per day to people living with AIDS during the height of the crisis.
From 2016-2025, The Center at West Park managed the building and welcomed tens of thousands of community members for live performances, classes and recreation for young people, and more, while hosting Lighthoues Chapel International for worship services on Sundays.
To quote its 2010 Landmarks Designation: West Park has “special character, special historical and aesthetic interest, and value as part of the development, heritage, and cultural characteristics of New York City.”
WEST PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IS A LAUNCHPAD FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTISTS AND ARTS LOVERS
Affordable spaces like West Park Presbyterian Church are essential to the future of arts & culture in New York City and nationwide. Young artists of diverse backgrounds need affordable places to start out. Audiences of all ages need access to diverse artistic experiences that fit their budgets. The creative economy generates more than $100 billion in economic activity in New York City every year, but without affordable spaces like West Park, the artists that create the culture we love in NYC are being priced out of our city.
Renowned artists from Mark Ruffalo to Laurence Fishburne to Marisa Tomei have all told us how important spaces like West Park Presbyterian Church were to their development long before they were household names. New York City needs West Park to ensure the future of our artists and audiences.
WEST PARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IS A UNIQUELY FINANCIALLY SELF-SUSTAINING BUILDING WITH 7 SPACES UNDER ONE ROOF
If you’ve never been inside West Park Presbyterian Church, you might not know that the building has seven unique spaces, including a 375 seat Sanctuary with theatrical lighting and sound, three dance studios, an eighty seat black box theater, and more. These multiple spaces sustain a business model where subsidized access for students and young artists can be supported by full price tickets and rentals for commercial producers, film shoots, and more.
The Center at West Park generated a $1.2 million dollar profit in 2024 because of this successful financial model and while offering thousands of pay-what-you-can tickets and hundreds of hours of $10/hour rehearsal space, all made possible by this special building.
Experience West Park Presbyterian Church in our 2025 drone tour video, narrated by Christian Slater: