Church of the Assumption: Decision Time

Photo by A. Palewski

Philadelphia’s Licenses & Inspections Review Board will vote on Appeal #13415, 1123-1133 Spring Garden Street — aka The Church of the Assumption — on Tuesday, May 17 at 1:15pm.

Attend the meeting at 1515 Arch Street, 18th Floor

This meeting will decide the success or failure of the Callowhill Neighborhood Association’s challenge to the Historical Commission’s grant of permission to demolish the Church of the Assumption.

The current nonprofit owner made a successful hardship application, stripping the building of the protection provided by its listing on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.  (No sign of who’s currently leading the organization; their out-of-date website still lists their executive director as Joe Lukach, who left in December 2010.)

As you can see in the photograph above, those twin spires are landmarks in the neighborhood, on a major thoroughfare that is slowly rebounding and leading the neighborhood in a resurgence of vitality and optimism.

Though the building is currently for sale, even an expert Googler or Binger would be hard-pressed to actually find any listing information online, so as things are now, the likelihood of a potential new owner coming across the property is extremely unlikely.

Finding an owner with the cash to rehabilitate the building may be a tall order, but this is a they-don’t-build-’em-like-this-anymore structure that could be an anchor for a neighborhood rebirth and it would be a shame to see it fall.

Background info on the saga at PlanPhilly.

More info about the church (including vintage images) at Philly Church Project.