An archival view of the seminal 1870 edifice...

From Help Save St. John's Episcopal Church

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE HISTORIC CHURCH ON TUESDAY NIGHT - FATE OF BUILDING UP TO CITY COUNCIL - EPISCOPAL DIOCESE STILL SEEKING DEMOLITION We cannot stress enough how vitally important tomorrow's City Council vote is for St. John's Episcopal Church, one of our great architectural monuments. We are certain that YOUR INPUT AND INVOLVEMENT, whether in person or via email or phone call, will help to convince Council members to vote in the positive. The Episcopal Diocese, the entity that has allowed the building to deteriorate over the last decade, is still moving forward with demolition plans despite strong opposition from the preservation community. We're fighting for this special building until the very last moment! Won't you join us as we get ready to stand in front of the Council? ONLY THE CITY COUNCIL CAN PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING--let's be clear. While the Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Board have both this year issued unanimous recommendations for landmarking, the real legislative protections come from the City Council. And so you see how important Tuesday night is for the church. We need your help and ask for it with a sense of urgency and utmost gratitude. WHAT: Landmark Designation Vote for St. John's WHERE: Jersey City Municipal Council Meeting, Frank R. Conwell Middle School (M.S. # 4), 107 Bright Street, Downtown Jersey City (enter at the intersection of Bright and Varick) WHEN: Tuesday, October 7, 2008. Starts at 6:00 p.m. Note: St. John's is not expected to be heard early in the meeting, so arriving after 6:00 p.m. is perfectly fine! If you cannot make the meeting, we ask that you send an email or call the City Council directly. (See City Council contact information below.) We ask that you send a message of support (via phone or email or fax, if preferred) to the City Council: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/citycouncil.aspx?id=46 If you would like to reach out only to Council President Mariano Vega and Ward F Councilwoman Viola Richardson (St. John's stands in her district), we are providing their contact info here: HONORABLE MARIANO VEGA, COUNCIL PRESIDENT - Phone: (201) 547-5268; Fax: (201) 547-4678; Email: mariano@jcnj.org; Hilario Nu?ez, Council Aide: Phone (201) 547-5458 HONORABLE VIOLA RICHARDSON, WARD F COUNCILWOMAN - Phone: (201) 547-5338; Fax: (201) 547- 4678; Email: RichardsonV@jcnj.org ; Lorenzo Richardson, Council Aide: Phone (201) 547-5361 TO GET INVOLVED OR FOR MORE INFORMATION, contact the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy at jclandmarks@gmail.com and/or 201-420-1885. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US TO PRESERVE JERSEY CITY'S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE!

From Help Save St. John's Episcopal Church

"In Jersey City, This Literary Lion Was Just Their Bob"

By Mark Di Ionno

The Star-Ledger

September 11, 2008

Had Robert Giroux died young, his wake and funeral would have been one of the literary events of the 20th century.

He was the American editor of T.S. Eliot. He edited the novels of Virginia Woolf, the short stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer, the poetry collections of Carl Sandburg. He recognized the Southern Gothic style of Flannery O'Connor as well as the Disengaged American voice of Jack Kerouac. He took a gamble with the experimental writings of Susan Sontag. He championed Bernard Malamud, who was a middle-aged college professor when his first book was published. William Saroyan, William Golding, Robert Lowell, Katharine Anne Porter, the list goes on and on. So do the prizes: Nobels, Pulitzers, National Book Awards. Giroux's authors won them all.

In being a literary giant-maker, Robert Giroux became a literary giant himself. He was the Giroux of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, the leading publisher of serious American literature.

So if Robert Giroux had died young, all those literary giants, and the industry built around them, would have gathered to mourn their loss. They would have spoken with eloquence and passion about his contributions to their legacies.

But Robert Giroux didn't die young. He died old, at 94, in an assisted-living center at the Jersey Shore last week. And when he was laid out Tuesday at the Reilly Funeral Home in Belmar, the room may have been filled with Ghosts of Great Books past, but sparse with surviving friends. Those friends were almost all a generation younger than Giroux, and like him had roots in Jersey City's old Irish-Catholic west side.

"He stayed connected," said Hugh McKenna, a nephew of Giroux's oldest and closest friend, Charles Reilly, who accompanied Giroux on his worldwide trips and social engagements.

Now wheelchair-bound, Reilly was brought to the wake as the only survivor from the old days of Robert Giroux's other world -- the close-knit group of families and friends from the blue-collar and politically connected neighorborhoods of Jersey City, where the erudite literary giant-maker was known to all as "Bob."

"We had him over for all the Christmas and Easter holidays with our family; he was part of our family," said Hugh (Jim) McKenna, whose late father, also Hugh, remained friends with Giroux even though their lives took divergent paths. While Giroux attended functions like Jackie Kennedy Onassis' 60th birthday party, the elder McKenna was a trucking company supervisor who became the Hudson County clerk.

"He was a very down-to-earth person," said Jim McKenna's wife, the former Mary O'Boyle. "He talked a little bit about his other life. We knew he was friends with Jackie O and Brooke Astor, but he didn't harp on it."

Not that he wouldn't occasionally drop a name.

Carol Verdan, whose husband William is also a nephew of Charles Reilly's, said Giroux once told her stories like this: "'Bob was on the beach with T.S. Eliot and his wife, and this woman comes out of the surf and says, 'Mr. Eliot, I'm a great admirer of your work.' And she takes off her bathing cap and shakes out her hair, and they realize it's Joan Crawford."

Along with those stories, he also passed on his love of books.

Regina (McKenna) Hennon, remembers getting, as a girl, "these beautifully illustrated children's books as presents from Bob. They were wonderful books."

She also remembered "he always had a manuscript in his hand," which he gladly put aside for family games of Monopoly and Scrabble. "He and Charles would play to win. They were very cut-throat games."

William Verdon, an attorney and another nephew of Reilly's, said Giroux "certainly whet our appetite for literature. I read the page proofs for (Bernard Malamud's baseball epic) "The Natural" when I was 12 years old. Bob knew I liked baseball, so he said, 'What do you think?' He gave me the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer to read in page proofs."

And in that last statement is exactly why Bob Giroux, a very smart kid from a blue-collar neighborhood in Jersey City, went on to become a literary giant-maker. While that might seem odd at first, the fact is Giroux understood the shrinking world. Like many World War II veterans, he saw the danger in political and cultural ignorance. He knew an Irish-Catholic kid from Jersey City like Billy Verdon should know about Isaac Bashevis Singer's world of Eastern European pogroms. He knew the spiritual writings of Catholic activist Thomas Merton, a classmate at Columbia, deserved an interdenominational audience.

He believed great literature could come from, and speak to, ordinary people. He was a representative of that belief. Just like the writers of his generation.

"Literary Giant from Jersey City Dies at 94"

By The Jersey Journal

Friday September 05, 2008, 6:49 PM

Jersey City native Robert Giroux, a book editor who launched the careers of many famed writers, has died, the New York Times is reporting.

He was 94.

Giroux died in his sleep early this morning at an assisted living facility in Tinton Falls.

"A towering giant in the field of publishing and literature, and never one to abandon his hometown,'' Jersey Journal Legends & Landmarks columnist John Gomez noted, Giroux only moved "a few years ago when fragile health prompted him to leave the St. John's Apartments complex in Journal Square.''

As a partner in the publishing house Farrar, Straus and Giroux, the editor who got his start at The Jersey Journal back in 1931 was often visited by literary lions, Gomez noted.

Author Bernard Malamud, Gomez said, must have been impressed.

"He often set scenes from his books in Jersey City, perhaps most prominently in his apocalyptic 1982 novel (and masterwork), 'God's Grace.'"

Through the years, the Jersey City community bestowed numerous honors on Giroux including an award from St. Aloysius Church, from whose grammar school he graduated in 1927, and the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. He also spoke of his experiences at St. Peter's College.

"To say that he is one of the most significant literary figures in the United States in this century might be an understatement,'' the Rev. Alexander Santora wrote in announcing the St. Al's award in 1989. "Look at the great writers he has worked with: Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, Bernard Malamud, Hannah Arendt and many more."

More info at: http://www.nj.com/hudson/

JOURNAL SQUARE THROUGH TIME Experience Journal Square's Many Layers of History! Saturday, May 31st from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Includes closing reception at CANCO Lofts. Join John Gomez and the teenage members of SAVE (Sustaining Architectural Vitality in the Environment) for JOURNAL SQUARE THROUGH TIME, a walking tour of the area's landmarks, including the Labor National Bank, the Jersey Journal, the Trust Company of New Jersey, the Loew's Jersey Theatre, the Stanley Theatre, St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, Little India and CANCO Lofts. Cost: $5; $3 for seniors and students with current ID. Proceeds will help support SAVE (Sustaining Architectural Vitality in the Environment), a teen-based preservation group founded by Hudson County students. Meet at the Journal Square PATH Transportation Center, Upper Mezzanine Level (by Duane Reade). Rain or shine! Free Jersey City wall calendars will be given out to tour participants while supplies last. More info at 201-420-1885 or historyrules1999@gmail.com.

Here are a few photos of the young SAVE members being videotaped by NJN last summer for the documentary that airs tonight... More info about New Jersey's only teen-organized and teen-led preservation advocacy group at: www.savearchitecture.org

Coinciding with National Historic Preservation Month, New Jersey Network (NJN) has released an hour-long video documentary entitled "Our Vanishing Past," which chronicles the ongoing threat to New Jersey's historic resources and the people who fight to save them. The documentary features sites and people from around the state. Jersey City is well represented by Ulana Zakalak, preservation consultant on The Beacon residential project at the old Jersey City Medical Center; John Gomez, founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy; and the teen preservation advocacy group SAVE. Air times on NJN include Monday, May 12 at 9:00 p.m., Saturday, May 17 at 3:00 p.m., and Sunday, June 15 at 9:00 p.m. Program description from NJN: Every year, thousands of historic buildings in the United States are torn down to make way for new construction. Others face their demise through vandalism and fire. When a building is no longer considered useful, it often becomes abandoned. Houses, libraries, mills and entire towns have met this fate. Eventually, time and the elements lead to collapse and ruin. Cities contain some of the most outstanding architecture, yet special buildings here are often neglected and stand empty. They become viewed as relics of the past. Eyesores fit for the wrecking ball. Only people with creative vision see new life in the bricks and mortar. Many would think that our significant historic treasures are safe for future generations. These, too, are often at risk. Both state and national historic sites suffer from a lack of adequate funding. The home of Walt Whitman and the laboratories of Thomas Edison have undergone major restorations, but they are both in need of additional money for preservation and interpretation. Our Vanishing Past explores the historic places that tell the story of America. It showcases the craftsmanship that went into constructing buildings in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It also highlights the recent past including the 1950s era Doo Wop motels in Wildwood. The unifying thread that connects all of these historic buildings is that they either face a struggle to survive or they have been rescued from abandonment. The documentary features more than 30 historic places throughout New Jersey, from crumbling ruins in forgotten towns to spectacular restorations in major cities. The show also includes as many as 50 interviews with dedicated people working to save America's vibrant past, including Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation; Ted Gordon, Pinelands historian & botanist; John Gomez, founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy; Ulana Zakalak, historic preservation consultant and Jack Morey, founder of the Doo Wop Preservation League. The documentary also looks at successful preservation efforts, from grassroots citizens groups to innovative developers. The Victor in Camden is one of the few remaining buildings from the vast RCA/Victor empire. Developer Carl Dranoff converted this abandoned structure into upscale apartments at a time when few believed in the city's renaissance. In Jersey City, the largest historic preservation tax credit project in the country is showcased. This complex of 10 art deco high rises was originally built as a medical center and is now being transformed into a residential community called The Beacon. The program shows how individuals can make a difference by serving as volunteers, buying historic houses and working with town leaders to help preserve the historic character of main streets and neighborhoods. The efforts of a teen preservation group called SAVE (Sustaining Architectural Vitality in the Environment) are highlighted. The group gives tours and organizes clean-ups and rallies to preserve historic buildings. The show also travels to Lambertville and Salem to discover the economic and environmental benefits of preserving and adaptively reusing historic buildings. More information about the program at: http://njn.net/television/specials/ourvanishingpast/about/

"Landmark in Peril: Sacred Heart One of State's Endangered Historic Sites" Wednesday, May 07, 2008 By Charles Hack The Jersey Journal Jersey City's now closed Sacred Heart Church has been named one of the state's 10 most endangered historic sites yesterday by the nonprofit group Preservation New Jersey. The church, on Bayview Avenue at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, was included on the list presented by Ron Emrich, director of the Preservation New Jersey, at a press conference yesterday at the Statehouse in Trenton. In its heyday, the church had a congregation of 4,000 but closed in 2005 due to dwindling membership, Emrich said. "Now deteriorating, the structure is a potential target for vandals," Emrich said. "It epitomizes the plight of urban places of worship whose congregations have dwindled." The circa-1924 church was designed by Boston architect Ralph Adams Cram as a reaction against English and French Gothic architecture, said John Gomez, founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy and The Jersey Journal's Legends & Landmarks columnist. "It is a wild mixture of Spanish Catholic and Moorish architecture," Gomez said. The church also features much-lauded stained glass windows designed by the young Harry Wright Goodhue, completed when he was just 18 years old. Gomez said he is concerned that with a Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station nearby and pressure for redevelopment in the area, the church could be demolished or remodeled. Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark, which owns the church, said he was unable to say exactly what is planned for the church. The site is also the location of Sacred Heart School, which has grades Kindergarten through eight. ? 2008 The Jersey Journal and NJ.com. All Rights Reserved. Photo by Leon Yost "Preservationists Release the Latest List of 10 Sites Worth Saving" Wednesday, May 07, 2008 By Tom Hester The Star-Ledger Preservationists from Scotch Plains, Jersey City, High Bridge, Milltown and elsewhere traveled to Trenton yesterday to draw attention to New Jersey sites -- "historic and cultural resources and landscapes" -- that are in imminent danger of disappearing. The nonprofit group Preservation New Jersey announced its annual list of the state's 10 most endangered historic sites. Each year, the organization announces the list to draw public and government attention to the dangers presented by demolition, alteration or vandalism. Being named to the list does not ensure preservation, but it has played a role in saving sites in the 14 years since the effort began. Preservation New Jersey director Ron Emrich announced the 10 sites from the Statehouse steps. "The list is not intended as a judgment on the significance of these as compared to other threatened sites," he said. "We call attention to these sites -- irreplaceable and in jeopardy -- and the many other places that they represent. "The selection of sites for this annual list becomes more and more difficult each year because of the growing number of treasured resources in peril." Ethel Washington of Plainfield was present to draw attention to the history of the clubhouse of the township-owned Scotch Plains County Club. The clubhouse stands to be replaced by a nursing home. As the Shady Rest Golf and Country Club from the 1920s to the 1960s, it was the first black-owned county club in the nation. "It hosted the first black professional golfers competition," she said. Mike Lewycky showed up bearing a large banner that read: "Milltown must bank on preservation." He was joined by Michael Shakarjian, dressed in a physician's outfit complete with headlamp, and Alan Godber. The three are members of the Milltown Environmental Committee and are attempting to save Forney House and Clinic, a late-1800s building that has served as a medical office since 1907. The last Victorian house in Milltown, it faces demolition and replacement by Valley National Bank. John Gomez and Violet Malolepsza traveled from Jersey City to call attention to vandalism and neglect at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. "The Newark Diocese has talked about making it a mausoleum," Gomez said. "That is an insult to the church and Jersey City." ? 2008 The Star Ledger NJ.com. All Rights Reserved. Additional Photos of Sacred Heart Church by Leon Yost: Archival images from Avery Archives, Columbia University: More photos of Sacred Heart: To view high-resolution video documentation of the interior (Quicktime only!), go to: http://gallery.mac.com/johngomez68 To view lower resolution versions of the films, go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/HistoryRules1999 SAVE SACRED HEART CHURCH! Visit the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy website at: www.jclandmarks.org

Hope everyone can make the Holland Street clean-up tomorrow!

If you want to see Hudson County's most historic (and aesthetically pleasing!) street, please come. You'll also get to see up to 100 middle school students having a blast raking, pulling weeds, sweeping and gardening along the street's edges.

Free pizza and water for participants!

For directions email Becky Hoffman at:

bhoffman45@comcast.net

To see what all the Holland Street hoopla is about, check out the website of the teen preservation group, SAVE, which is the main sponsor of the clean-up:

http://savearchitecture.org/reservoir ... d-st-cleanup-spring-2007/

PRESERVATION MONTH 2008 IN JERSEY CITY Saturday May 3 through Saturday May 31 The Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy is pleased to announce our schedule for Preservation Month 2008! Events include our annual Historic Holland Street Clean-up organized by SAVE (www.savearchitecture.org) on Saturday May 3, Researching Home Histories at the Jersey City Free Public Library on Thursday evening May 22, and our 8th Annual Preservation Awards Ceremony at the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre on Wednesday evening May 28. Tours include our New Jersey City Architectural Tour based on our 2008 calendar on Sunday May 4, Restoration Tour of ?The Beacon,? the former Jersey City Medical Center on Saturday May 10, and a double-header closing the month on Saturday May 31 consisting of the Journal Square Through Time Tour lead by SAVE and the Lafayette History Festival and Tour. For a complete schedule and details related to our Preservation Month events, go to: http://www.jclandmarks.org/PreservationMonth2008.shtml Above image: "The Beacon," formerly the historic Jersey City Medical Center. On Saturday May 10, the Landmarks Conservancy, joined by Beacon restoration director Ulana Zakalak, will lead a rare, behind-the-scenes restoration tour of the National Register landmark.

The fight for the Lafayette post office goes on! Check out this update from The Jersey Journal:

http://www.nj.com/hudsoncountynow/ind ... rrow_for_closed_post.html

Those who were here in the 1970s have diverse and interesting memories of the time period--but I'd love to hear from the residents of the 1950s and 60s, those who witnessed the erasure of entire neighborhoods for "urban renewal" (not unlike the Upper West Side of NYC), not to mention political corruption, tenement and factory fires, civil unrest, "white flight," etc. These issues were in the local headlines throughout the era and so cannot be a total mystery to us today.

The New Jersey Room has a file of 1960s and 1970s photos showing a forsaken, written-off Jersey City: dilapidated buildings, litter-clogged curbs, and a deserted waterfront.

So was Jersey City worse off back then?

A drug-related shooting that occurred in 1972 is no different than a drug-related shooting in 2007. A mugging now was a mugging then. Abandoned tenements, empty lots, chromium-laced soil--they were here then and they are here now.

But gone are the mom and pop stores of the 1970s, the generational businesses (only a few remain) that were started up nearly a century before. Gone are the old ladies who sat on their porches with extension cord-powered TV sets (you might still see this at the outskirts of Jersey City, in Greenville or the Western Slope). Gone are the gun-less gangs of youths (it was all fists once, sometimes sticks).

Will we look back thirty years from now and wonder: Was the first decade of the new millennium worse than it is now? You can bet we'll be reflecting on the open-air drug trades on MLK Drive and Ocean and Randolph avenues; the proliferation of guns; the unchecked violence in schools; the affluent though mostly transient populations; the city's runaway, rather reckless development; failing hospitals; flooding; the endless battle to save historic landmarks; etc. etc.

The 1970s in Jersey City was a decade, we must remember, that showered us in false hopes (the Journal Square Transportation Center, Route 440) and slow starts (the brownstone revitalization movement). While it is true that everyone knew everyone in neighborhoods--some might say they all "looked out" for each other--it is also true that social barriers prevented true integration and unity.

It really was the best and worst of times.

THE JERSEY CITY REPORTER 12/16/2007 "Another Step Toward Preserving Church; Planning Board Votes To Recommend St. John's For Municipal Landmark" By Ricardo Kaulessar, Reporter Staff Writer Two Sides Presenting Their Case ? Joshua Parkhurst (left), president of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy. Standing next to him is Deborah Perry (right), attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, which currently owns the church building. The Jersey City Planning Board at their Tuesday meeting voted 6-0 to recommend that the City Council approve municipal landmark designation for the 137-year old St. John's Episcopal Church, located on Summit Avenue near the old Jersey City Medical Center. The landmark status, if approved by the council, could prevent the building from being demolished by the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, which currently owns the building. The diocese claims that substantial damage was done to the church's infrastructure over the years, making it ripe for demolition. Earlier this year, a historic preservation group called the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy had filed an application with the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission (HPC), hoping the structure could get the municipal landmark designation. But after months of delay in hearing the application, the HPC heard presentations at their Oct. 22 and Oct. 29 meetings from the Conservancy and the Episcopal Diocese, debating whether to preserve the church. The Planning Board on Tuesday heard nearly two hours of arguments from the same parties fighting over the preservation. 'The Millionaires' Church' The church was erected in 1870 at its current location of 120 Summit Ave. in the Bergen Hill area. It went on to achieve a distinction as the largest and wealthiest Episcopal parish in New Jersey, earning its nickname "The Millionaires' Church." But by the 1960s, the wealthy clientele who once frequented the church had moved away, replaced by working-class people. There was a resurgence when Jersey City native and cleric Rev. Robert Castle was head of St. John's Episcopal between 1960 and 1968. The church became a haven for the civil rights struggle in Jersey City. The Episcopal Diocese closed the church in 1994 after it had served the community for more than 100 years, complaining of a declining congregation and unavailable to maintain it. Fighting Over the Preservation The Landmarks Conservancy made a brief presentation on Tuesday night, first with a slideshow of photos of the church, in its ornate glory and its current squalor. After the slideshow, Landmarks Conservancy president Joshua Parkhurst addressed past comments by the Episcopal Diocese about the "structural integrity" and "historic integrity" of the church. He also scolded the church for allowing a New York-based architectural salvage company to strip the interior of artifacts and using that as a rationale for claiming the church lacks historic integrity. "That's really akin to murdering your parents and then throwing yourself on the mercy of the court as an orphan," Parkhurst said. The Episcopal Diocese's legal representative, Deborah Perry, in her presentation said the Diocese did not intentionally neglect the church but instead, after closing the church, tried to sell it but did not find any buyers. She also said the trustees of the Episcopal Diocese have made it clear to her that there are no funds "to maintain, rehab or restore the building" to stabilize the building, one reason to oppose landmark designation. Perry took the Landmarks Conservancy to task as well. "The Conservancy did not come forward with any plans to preserve this building, or any funds or source of funds to rehabilitate this building," Perry said. Planning Board Decides After comments from the public, most of whom favored preserving the church for religious or other re-use, the director of the city's Planning Division, Robert Cotter, confirmed the claim by Conservancy member Cynthia Hadjiyannis the church had already been designated eligible as a municipal historic landmark in the city's Master Plan since 2000. Cotter explained that the church is located in what was once known as the Bergen Hill Historic District, which existed until 1989. He said it is eligible for listing on the National Historic Register, thus allowing it being listed already a municipal historic landmark. Cotter also spoke for the Planning Division, saying they approved of recommendation to the City Council. Planning Board Commissioner and City Councilman Steve Lipski asked what would be the purpose of designating the church as a landmark if the Episcopal Diocese does not have the funds to restore the building. Cotter advised that if the building is not preserved somehow, it could be demolished and replaced by something that is incompatible with the area. Lipski voted in favor of the recommendation to landmark the church. The other commissioners also voted in the affirmative. Among them was Michael Sims, who said, "Wow, what a beautiful building. I really can't sit here and see it go down this way. It won't come back." When the vote was finished, Planning Board Chairman Michael Ryan and Lipski both advised the two sides to work together and come up with a plan to preserve the church. Working together? After the meeting, Perry would only respond on the Planning Board's decision that "The record speaks for itself." Meanwhile, Parkhurst was "very pleased" with the decision. He also said that the Conservancy is open to any future meeting with the Diocese. "I have sent [the Episcopal Diocese] a letter offering to help them with certain repairs, at least stabilization, and they have not responded." Parkhurst said. Comments on the story can be sent to: rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com Copyright 2007 The Hudson Reporter

Meeting On Future of Episcopal Church Set For Tomorrow

By The Jersey Journal

Monday December 10, 2007, 2:16 PM

The Jersey City Planning Board expects to hold a hearing tomorrow night on whether St. John's Episcopal Church on Summit Avenue will be designated a historic landmark, as a group of local activists have been pushing for.

Representatives from the Episcopal Diocese of Newark - which wants to sell the property on which the 137-year-old Gothic church sits - are expected to attend.

The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. at 30 Montgomery St., 14th floor conference room.

And Sunday's New York Times features a great article by the talented Kevin Coyne concerning our fight to save this pivotal 19th century Jersey City landmark. Coyne's weekly front-page column, aptly titled "Jersey," is one of the best written and poignant parts of the Sunday paper. We hope this weekend's amazing media coverage of St. John's Episcopal Church will inspire all readers on this list to attend Tuesday's Planning board meeting (30 Montgomery Street, 14th floor conference room, 5:30 p.m.) or to visit our website to learn how you can send a strong message to the abandoned and neglected church's owners. -History Rules December 9, 2007 Jersey "Afterlife Hard for Once-Grand Church" By Kevin Coyne (Jersey City, NJ) - AFTER a long time away, the Rev. Robert Castle visited his old church last year ? St. John?s Episcopal, the hilltop Gothic with a panoramic view out over the world he did his best to change in the 1960s ? and the state of its decline left him thinking of another sublime fortress once also thought to be impregnable. ?It was like the Titanic going down, and it was sad to see,? said Father Castle, who was rector at St. John?s from 1960 to 1968. ?It?s been almost 40 years, and my heart still aches over that church.? Other hearts have also been aching over St. John?s, a grand but moldering granite church in the Bergen Hill neighborhood that is at the center of perhaps the only ecclesiastical preservation battle that features cameo appearances by the Black Panthers and a Hollywood filmmaker. New Jersey?s cities are filled with abandoned monuments to God, the churches and synagogues whose congregations have long since departed for more modern buildings girdled by parking lots in the suburbs. Some of the vacant shells left behind have been reincarnated with new denominations; some have been converted to housing or offices; some have been demolished. And some, like St. John?s, sit empty and await their fate, as each blast of winter, each soaking rain, brings them ever nearer to the afterlife. ?It?s like a fire hose when the rain comes, just a deluge,? said Dennis Doran, a neighbor and a former senior warden of the church, pointing up toward a drainpipe that was once attached to copper gutters that were long ago stolen and sold for scrap. The roof beneath it, over the front section of the south nave, collapsed last winter. St. John?s rose above pastoral farmland and the lavish estates of its patrons when it opened in 1871, and easily could have passed for a medieval church in a Constable landscape of the English countryside, until the city gradually climbed up and over the bluff to surround it with brownstones and apartment buildings. By the first decade of the 20th century, it was the largest Episcopal church in all of New Jersey, with the largest congregation, at 4,000 members. When a fire struck in 1914, a newspaper headline called it the ?Millionaire?s Church.? The church, on one and a quarter acres, was a citadel of wealth, propriety and stability in a city that was already absorbing waves of new immigrants. The stained-glass windows were from the Tiffany studios. The white marble pulpit and the altar, with a sculptured relief of the Last Supper, came from Italy. The rector, the Rev. Edward L. Stoddard, arrived in 1876, and stayed until his death in 1929. By the time Father Castle was assigned to St. John?s in 1960, it still had a paid choir, but its endowment and enrollment were both dwindling. ?The church was open at 10:45 for an 11 o?clock service and then locked up again at 12:15,? said Father Castle, 78, who grew up on the West Side, at St. Stephen?s, and now lives in Holland, Vt., near the Canadian border. He promptly went out into the black neighborhoods that St. John?s had previously ignored and brought hundreds of new members into the old church. He started a chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality, marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Mississippi, and walked the streets to calm tensions after riots threatened. He picketed for civil rights and against the Vietnam War, and was arrested when he dumped garbage on the steps of City Hall to draw attention to living conditions in the city?s poor neighborhoods. He even offered refuge at the church to the local chapter of the Black Panthers. ?I was associated with things that were very controversial, and that?s one of the reasons why I guess I ultimately decided I should leave,? said Father Castle, who later became rector of a similarly active church in Harlem, and whose cousin, the film director Jonathan Demme, made a 1992 documentary about him, ?Cousin Bobby.? ?There weren?t the kind of people in Jersey City that were going to come to a church that had its neck stuck so far out.? The Diocese of Newark closed St. John?s in 1994 but continued to rent space in the basement to other congregations until a few years ago, when the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, a nonprofit preservation group, started to worry about the future of the vacant church. In October, acting on an application filed by the conservancy and opposed by the diocese, the city?s Historic Preservation Commission voted 5-0 to recommend placing the church on the Municipal Register of Historic Places, which would restrict the diocese?s ability to demolish it. The planning board is scheduled to consider the application on Tuesday; the city council will hear it next. Diocesan officials ?just don?t want to deal with the building, and they don?t want to deal with Jersey City,? said John Gomez, a Jersey City native who is the founder and past president of the conservancy. The city has three Episcopal churches, down from a peak of 12 in the early 1900s. ?We?re letting them know that we don?t agree with that, and we?re going to fight for this building.? The diocese, citing ?safety concerns? and placing the cost of restoration at $25 million, believes the church should be demolished. ?We would have loved to have figured out a way to save this, but it wasn?t a fiscally responsible decision for us,? said R. Carter Echols, canon to Bishop Mark Beckwith. Whatever happens, Father Castle is ready for another visit to the church that he sometimes wakes up thinking about in the middle of the night. ?I?d come down and do a Communion service,? he said, ?just to let God know and the people know it was a good place with a lot of good people there.? E-mail: Jersey@nytimes.com Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company Read the article online at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/09/nyr ... 73-Yv9ouefPHL+rpMhXuL0epw

"City Puts Spin On A Dull Plan"

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Letters to the Editor

The Jersey Journal

RE: Bill Matsikoudis's correspondence, "Newspaper Too Myopic To See Future Arts District," Dec. 4.

Matsikoudis claims the "first-class theater" proposed by Toll Brothers for the art district is a "significant benefit" that presumably helps justify demolishing historic warehouses and building three times higher than allowed under the existing zoning. Well, a better, more flexible theater was already required under the existing zoning - and the developer even broke ground. This theater would have been completed by now, but all construction came to a halt in the area because the owners believed they could get a better deal under Mayor Healy. It seems they were right!

The Healy administration is mistaken if they think a boring high-rise district could ever be a viable arts and entertainment destination. Even the cultural and entertainment districts of a city as tall as Manhattan are located in the lower areas that have character, like SOHO, Tribeca and the Village. Let's create a vibrant, exciting, and culturally rich environment for our city and not spread, as Jane Jacobs would say, "the blight of dullness."

CHARLES KESSLER, CHAIR
PRO ARTS PAD DEFENSE COMMITTEE JERSEY CITY

Let's try to keep this new thread focused on the issues of historic preservation, please. Our main concern here is keeping the district's industrial heritage continuous and intact--and trying to educate narrow-minded elected officials. Any pro-artist or anti-artist housing sentiments are best served in previous threads. Thanks!

"This is What You Get When Money Trumps Vision"

Editorial, The Jersey Journal

Monday, December 3, 2007

With every Planning Board hearing, the Jersey City Powerhouse district is becoming more artless. There was a time when this city wanted to build something unique other than the glass and steel office and housing towers that were being planted on the riverbank.

Under the administration of former Mayor Bret Schundler, a vision then called Waldo - an acronym for artists' Work and Live District Overlay - called for transforming the rough waterfront neighborhood of warehouses and former industrial plants into a neighborhood similar to that of Manhattan's SoHo.

One would be hard-pressed to find a district for artists that receives public subsidies, but the city committed itself to creating a new neighborhood and has since reneged. Had the promises been acted upon and the artists failed to thrive, there would have been at least the look of an interesting and engaging sector in contrast to the same old, same old new buildings.

As waterfront real estate prices skyrocketed, the vision for the warehouse area west of Exchange Place and south of Newport turned green - as in money. The interest was more for condos than sculpture. The situation reached a tipping point when artists lost their fight to remain in 111 First St., a huge old warehouse where they had their studios, and it was eventually demolished, for safety reasons.

In 2006, the City Council stripped the historic designation from the Powerhouse Arts District and removed it from the oversight of the city's Historic Preservation Commission. The changes were a result of the controversial 111 First St. settlement allowing an owner/developer to bypass the district's historic protections and build high-rise residential buildings.

City Corporation Counsel Bill Matsikoudis said the 111 First St. situation would not spur the "domino effect" conservationists feared - turning the unique warehouse district into the same Vertical City that surrounds its borders.

Last week at a Planning Board meeting, luxury housing developer Toll Brothers pitched changes to the district that include three new condo towers, each at 300 feet in height, or two-thirds the size of the Goldman Sachs office building - as vertical as one can get.

As for the requirement for artists and affordable housing, it was projected that at least half of the designated 10 percent of the units would be built "elsewhere" in the city. Apartments for artists would be available only during a 180-day period before they went up for public sale.

To sweeten the new proposal, a 550-seat theater, under nonprofit management, is being championed in an area that will be called Provost Square, replacing the old cobblestoned Provost Street. Jersey City Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Robert Antonicello called this area Jersey City's Lincoln Center. It would be a great excuse for the administration to kill off the 3,000-seat Loew's Jersey Theatre in Journal Square.

This is the same Antonicello who once said historical preservation should never be at the expense of creating revenue.

"I don't like entitled groups," he added. "The only way the city can address quality-of-life issues is if they get an edge on ratables. The city should view the entire zone east of Henderson as their entitlement zone to max out ratables."

Consider that the ancient Greeks treated architecture, math, art and music as equal sciences. They called an architect's completed building "frozen music." There is no jazz to the Powerhouse district proposals, but rather bad karaoke.

This soon-to-be biggest city in New Jersey has nothing approaching a world-class theater or music hall. It does a poor job of promoting the arts and preserving landmarks - unless there's decades of prodding. Should anyone be surprised when a promised arts district is whittled down to no consequence.

This newspaper has pointed out frequently that this city is not a destination stop. Neighboring Newark has reasons to visit it, and Newark got them by taking chances and coming up with, to name a few, the New Jersey Performing Arts and the Prudential Center, and a restored Symphony Hall.

It should be easier to develop open space, but the Hudson County seat can not even do that well. Mostly made up of aging buildings with a modern, unimaginative waterfront skyline, Jersey City is interested in only the bottom line. Other than its people, it does not have the collective drive or capability of developing a renaissance spirit.

It is becoming more and more evident that this city has no soul.

? 2007 The Jersey Journal / ? 2007 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.

You are cordially invited to the dedication of the Theodore Conrad Memorial Rotunda Thursday, November 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the Justice William J. Brennan Court House (corner Newark & Baldwin Avenues right outside Journal Square) Where & When The Hudson County William J. Brennan Court House 583 Newark (corner Newark & Baldwin) Jersey City, New Jersey Thursday, November 29, 2007 7:00 p.m. Ted Conrad - A Life Dedicated to Jersey City and Historic Preservation Theodore Conrad led the campaign that saved and restored the Hudson County Justice William J. Brennan Court House -- one of the most architecturally significant public spaces in the United States -- when it had been scheduled for demolition. It is for this singular civic achievement that he is being honored on Thursday. Ted was born on Griffith Street and Ogden Avenue in Jersey City's Heights. He was trained as an architect and developed a thriving business as a maker of architectural models, contributing to the designs of some of the greatest buildings of the mid 20th Century. Yet despite his success, Ted never thought to move "up and out" of Jersey City; instead, he ran his studio in a historic industrial building on Ogden Avenue. In over eight decades of life, he never moved more than a few hundred yards from where he was born. Beginning in the 1960s, Ted Conrad devoted much of his time to preserving Hudson County landmarks, promoting appreciation of local history and improving our quality of life. Among his contributions, in addition to saving the Court House, Ted - * Organized the Riverview Neighborhood Association; * Was a leader, along with Morris Pesin, of the effort that created Liberty State Park; * Was a founder of Friends of the Loew's; * Turned a portion of his Ogden Avenue shop into a small museum of local history; * Was a leading activist on a wide variety of civic issues. As the father of historic preservation in Hudson County, Ted continues to be an inspiration to new generations of local preservationists and all civic activists. Please join us in honoring him and the Conrad family. Today's editorial in The Jersey Journal: "We'll Look Up, and Remember Conrad" Wednesday, November 28, 2007 They are finally getting around to the business of honoring the man most responsible for the saving of the Hudson County Justice William J. Brennan Court House at Newark and Baldwin avenues in Jersey City. Tomorrow at 7 p.m., the public is invited to honor one of the city's greatest figures, Theodore Conrad, by naming the courthouse's rotunda after the man who saved the magnificent Beaux Arts structure from demolition. A graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Conrad pioneered the use of Plexiglas and metal for models, rather than the traditional wood and cardboard. Modeling was the form used by architects before computers provided pre-construction designs. He was tops in his field, having modeled New York City's Chase Manhattan, Metropolitan Life buildings and even the Air Force Academy in Colorado. It has been often reported how Conrad's model gave Jacqueline Kennedy her first view of what her husband's grave would look like at Arlington National Cemetery. The father of Hudson County preservation defended historic architecture, spending much of his time fighting to preserve landmarks, many of which can be found on state and national landmark registers. Among his greatest accomplishments was preserving the imposing county courthouse. Hugh Roberts, a Jersey City architect, designed the lavish courthouse. It cost $3.3 million to construct, a sum considered outrageous by many at the time. What would such a building cost today? Built with granite from Maine, the building has Corinthian pillars, ornate interior balconies, carved ornamental scrolls. It opened for justice on Sept. 20, 1910, and was in use until 1966, when the courts and offices were moved to the adjacent Hudson County Administration Building. In the late 1960s, Conrad headed a citizens committee to save the courthouse. In 1970, the group managed to get the building listed in the National Register of Historic Places and by the 1980s the building was again in use. Naming the rotunda for the Jersey City native seems appropriate. Enter the courthouse and look upward in the rotunda and you will see paintings of zodiac figures around the glass dome, representing the passage of a year. Thanks to Conrad's efforts, the county's most impressive landmark has been in existence for nearly 100 years. ? 2007 The Jersey Journal ? 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved. Articles related to Ted?s accomplishments in the architectural and preservation arenas:

Shouldn't JERSEY CITY be doing the same thing as Newark, considering we probably have have built more of those ghastly cookie cutter houses than any other large city in the state? Check out what Newark is striving to do:

"Newark Design Forum Seeks Thinking Outside 'Bayonne box'"

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

BY JEFFERY C. MAYS

Star-Ledger Staff

The three-story vinyl-clad homes that have sprouted up on narrow lots around Newark during the last decade have provided homeownership opportunities for thousands and much needed property tax revenue for the city.

Now Newark doesn't want them anymore.

At a design symposium at the Newark Museum tonight, 12 architects will present alternative designs to what Mayor Cory Booker derisively called "Bayonne boxes" in his State of the City speech earlier this year.

The cookie-cutter design has proven to be wildly popular for developers who often bought up city blocks and knocked out the multifamily homes in an assembly-line fashion. Others were wedged into lots between buildings, frequently set back deeper than the older homes to accommodate a driveway.

While the Bayonne boxes have been key to Newark's housing boom, some see them as a blight on Newark's landscape.

Residents say the homes destroy the character of the neighborhood, lack suitable green space and bring too many cars to the area.

"Who wants to live in a box?" Newark planning director Toni Griffin asked. "They are very affordable to build and over the last five years they have been easy to sell. They fit very well with the market, but we want to explore if there are other housing types and other markets."

The city chose five sites around the city and invited a mix of local and New York architects to come up with designs other than the traditional Bayonne Box. The results are to be revealed tonight.

Georgeen Theodore, assistant professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology's School of Architecture, and student Tim Rupp came up with a concept called "breaking down the box."

Instead of the traditional Bayonne box, where the units are stacked one on top of the other, the design includes two duplexes and a ground floor studio. Separating the units creates opportunities for each unit to have outdoor space.

Newworks, a Newark design firm, developed a "push/pull" concept where the traditional box is changed based on the surrounding environment to create spaces that fit better with the streetscape.

"What you see now is the same product in every location. There's no sense of neighborhood. What you'll see is a variety of answers that are suitable alternatives so you don't have one solution. We've seen what happens when there is just one solution," said Richard Johnson, a senior vice president for construction and development at Matrix Development Group and former chair of the northern New Jersey district council of the Urban Land Institute, which partnered with the city and the Regional Plan Association on the project.

The idea of a three-story, multiple unit home isn't unique to Newark. In Boston and Chicago they are called the "triple decker." The box first appeared in Hudson County in the 1920s. Once favored by small developers, its production spread. After World War II, entire neighborhoods in Bayonne were built with this type of housing, hence the name.

Around 2000, Newark changed its zoning rules that allowed for building on the narrower lots by changing side yard spatial requirements. Combined with the desire to return unused property to the tax rolls and the granting of tax abatements to purchasers of these properties, the building of Bayonne boxes exploded in Newark. The houses initially sold in the low $300,000s and went for as much as $500,000 at the height of the real estate boom.

Soon, the city council was entertaining proposals from developers at almost every meeting. Former Mayor Sharpe James is now facing trial on federal corruption charges based on the sale of city land to his associates.

During one meeting, Joe Chinnery, the project manager for Lineas Design Group, presented the same design on behalf of two developers, angering the council.

"What's wrong with them? Lack of space. There's absolutely no imagination. They all look the same and the quality is poor," said East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador, who has fielded complaints from residents of his ward for years about the homes, some of which intrude on industrial areas.

Chinnery said his firm was just giving the city what it wanted.

"At that time, the administration had a standard to follow and we had to follow those guidelines," said Chinnery, who said his firm will submit a proposal tonight. "I was the lamb getting slaughtered."

Griffin said this process is about deciding the rules to help guide developers in presenting better products. The goal is not to produce another cookie-cutter model for the Bayonne box, but to help the city determine what zoning regulations may need to be changed and how the city's Master Plan should address efforts to create more housing diversity. Attendees will even be asked to suggest names other than the Bayonne box.

Michael Saltzman, principal of Newwork who purchased a Bayonne box for his family a few years ago, said the city is embarking on a significant process.

"What we are proposing to do is change the market and we better be comfortable with that," Saltzman said. "We all should recognize that design is not just abut how it looks. Design is function. Design is value."

Jeffery C. Mays covers Newark City Hall. He can be reached at jmays@starledger.com or (973) 392-4149.

? 2007 The Star Ledger

? 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

Here is the entire (and brief) St. John's article in the Tuesday, November 20th edition of The Jersey Journal:

"Landmarking Hearing for Historic Church is Put Off to Dec. 11"

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

By Ken Thorbourne for The Jersey Journal

A decision by the Jersey City Planning Board on whether to recommend St. John's Episcopal Church on Summit Avenue for landmark status will have to wait.

To accommodate attorneys representing the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, the item has been removed from tonight's agenda and carried over to the Dec. 11 meeting, city officials said.

The group pushing for landmark status for the unused, 137-year-old Gothic structure isn't pleased with the last-minute cancellation.

"We sent out notices, e-mails. Now we have to ask everyone to postpone their plans because the Episcopal Diocese pulled another stunt," said, John Gomez, founder and former president of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy.

Carter Echols, spokeswoman for the diocese, said the church wants to "resolve this as quickly as possible. But it's a holiday week and our attorney isn't available."

The Episcopal Diocese wants to sell the property and is convinced landmark status - which would save the exterior of the church - would reduce its value on the open market, sources said.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the church became a center for the civil rights movement in Jersey City, Gomez said.

Last month, the Historic Preservation Commission recommended the church for landmark status. The City Council makes the final decision, but won't act until the Planning Board makes a recommendation.

? 2007 The Jersey Journal

? 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved

"Vote On Historic Status for St. John's Church Postponed"

By The Jersey Journal

Monday November 19, 2007, 2:43 PM

The Jersey City Planning Board has postponed a vote on the historic designation of St. John's Episcopal Church in Jersey City.

Earlier this month, the church won the backing of the city's Historic Preservation Commission.

The planning board was scheduled to hear the matter tonight but will instead take it up Dec. 20.

Copyright 2007 The Jersey Journal

[See tomorrow's newspaper for an extended story about the postponement]

CHURCH TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD PRESERVATION

Commission Recommends St. John's Episcopal To Become Historic Landmark

By Ricardo Kaulessar for The Jersey City Reporter

Sunday, November 10, 2007

The Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission recommended by a 5-0 vote at its special meeting on Oct. 29 that St. John's Episcopal Church become a historic landmark.

The church is located at 120 Summit Ave., a few blocks from the old Jersey City Medical Center.

The commission's recommendation will then go to the Planning Board, where, at the next meeting on Nov. 20, they will vote whether or not to recommend landmark designation to the City Council. The council's vote will officially make the church a landmark.

Erected in 1870, St. John's enjoyed for many years the distinction of being the largest and wealthiest Episcopal parish in New Jersey. During the 1960s, the church became a haven for the civil rights struggle in Jersey City. Those factors helped the commission make its decision.

The question of whether or not to designate the church a landmark was initially posed by the attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, Deborah Perry at the commission's Oct. 22 meeting.

The Episcopal Diocese, which currently owns the building, through Perry and various experts, made the case at the previous meeting and at Monday's special meeting that the church has suffered a great deal of structural damage since its closing in 1994 to not warrant landmark status.

Earlier this year, a historic preservation group called the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy had filed an application with the Preservation Commission, hoping the structure could get municipal landmark designation. The distinction would protect the building from demolition, which the Conservancy feared would be eventually carried out by the Episcopal Diocese.

And the demolition question did not completely subside as Landmarks Conservancy founder John Gomez asked the commission before the end of the special meeting if the Episcopal Diocese planned to demolish the church building before the Planning Board was to consider the landmark application.

Perry answered that she would have to speak to her client about their plans. She offered no further comment when asked for a response to the commission's decision.

The Debate Continued

Monday's special meeting was a continuation of the Oct. 22 meeting, where the city's head preservation officer, Dan Wrieden, requested the commissioners visit the church site before making an informed decision. Four of the commissioners visited the church on Oct. 26.

The meeting started out as practically a carbon copy of the previous one. The first few minutes were spent looking at slides of the interior and exterior of the church. The slides were shown by Shawn Rothstein, a structural engineer retained by the Episcopal Diocese, who pointed out examples of structural deterioration. At the previous meeting, Ulana Zakalak, a historic preservation specialist retained by the Landmarks Conservancy, showed slides of the church from past and present to tout its historical significance and make a case for its preservation.

In turn, the conservancy's current president Joshua Parkhurst presented a letter from architect and engineer John Inglese, who was asked by Conservancy member Dennis Doran to investigate the conditions of the church. Inglese concluded the church was not in "imminent danger of collapse," and could be restored without much effort.

Zakalak also spoke briefly about her work as a consultant on the transformation of the old Jersey City Medical Center into the 1200-unit condo complex The Beacon, considered the largest historic restoration project in the United States. She pointed out the old Medical Center suffered far greater structural damage than St. John's Episcopal Church and yet is being restored by the developer.

Why Was St. John's Chosen?

Before they voted to recommend landmark designation for the church, the commission heard from the public. There were residents living near the church who spoke of the beauty of its structure and some, with their construction background, offered to help restore the church.

They were budding teen preservationists who wanted to see more historic buildings as new buildings are going up around them. It was an Episcopal priest from out-of-town who pointed out that the new development in Jersey City will bring in new residents looking for a church for worship.

But all those voices of support took a backseat to Dennis Doran.

Doran, a member of the Landmarks Conservancy is also a former parishioner of St. John's who has become an unofficial historian of the church.

Doran spent over 20 minutes outlining a detailed history of the church, from its inception until its closing, spending time describing the importance of the church.

"I've found that the history of St. John's is deeply entwined with the history of Bergen section of the city and many, many of the most notable people," said Doran, mentioning such people as financier Edward F.C. Young and architect John T. Rowland.

Doran mentioned St. John's longtime pastor Rev. Dr. Edward L. Stoddard, who built up St. John's in the early 1900s and "put it on the map" by establishing various initiatives for both the rich and poor of the city, and brought in the latest thinkers.

Doran also spoke of how the Episcopal Diocese six years ago ignored the theft of the church's gutters - which contributed to the damage of the church as water seeped into the interior.

And he spoke of its need at the present time.

"It's sorely missed in that area," Doran said. "I cannot tell you how many people ask me, 'When are we going to get back into church? When is the church going to be reopened? and When is this church going to be fixed?'" Doran said.

Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com

Copyright 2007 The Hudson Reporter