The Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist is in negotiations to sell its starkly modern building at 171 MacDougal Street to Property Markets Group, which is headed by Ziel Feldman.
The red-brick building is at the foot of MacDougal Alley in the heart of Greenwich Village.
A modernist structure, it was remodeled in 1966-7 by Victor Christ-Janer & Associates from a 19th Century factory and store, according to David W. Dunlap's excellent book, "From Abyssinian to Zion, A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship" (Columbia University Press, 2004).
Mr. Dunlap observed that "Probably no Christian denomination in modern times has tried as many varieties of architectural expression as the Church of Christ, Scientist," adding that at this location "is the modern impulse: a brick wall at the end of Macdougal Alley, penetrated by corbeled openings, including a monumental shaft that serves the Gothic purpose of lifting the eye upward."
Melanie Golder, chairman of the board of the church, told CityRealty.com today that church would have a first-floor in a new structure that would be built by Property Markets Group. The new building would contain residential condominium apartments above the new church facility, but Ms. Golder said it was too early to discuss further details.
The building is in the Greenwich Village Historic District and therefore plans for the new building must be approved by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
A call to Mr. Feldman was not returned.
In addition to facing Macdougal Alley where Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney maintained a sculpture studio that she later expanded into the Whitney Museum of American Art on West Eighth Street, which is now the New York Studio School for Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, the church property is half a block from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park.
The red-brick building is at the foot of MacDougal Alley in the heart of Greenwich Village.
A modernist structure, it was remodeled in 1966-7 by Victor Christ-Janer & Associates from a 19th Century factory and store, according to David W. Dunlap's excellent book, "From Abyssinian to Zion, A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship" (Columbia University Press, 2004).
Mr. Dunlap observed that "Probably no Christian denomination in modern times has tried as many varieties of architectural expression as the Church of Christ, Scientist," adding that at this location "is the modern impulse: a brick wall at the end of Macdougal Alley, penetrated by corbeled openings, including a monumental shaft that serves the Gothic purpose of lifting the eye upward."
Melanie Golder, chairman of the board of the church, told CityRealty.com today that church would have a first-floor in a new structure that would be built by Property Markets Group. The new building would contain residential condominium apartments above the new church facility, but Ms. Golder said it was too early to discuss further details.
The building is in the Greenwich Village Historic District and therefore plans for the new building must be approved by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
A call to Mr. Feldman was not returned.
In addition to facing Macdougal Alley where Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney maintained a sculpture studio that she later expanded into the Whitney Museum of American Art on West Eighth Street, which is now the New York Studio School for Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, the church property is half a block from the northwest corner of Washington Square Park.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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