Another Life for a Historic Church

Emanuel Lutheran Church on South Sixth Street was built in 1880, designed by prolific local architect Michael J. O'Connor. (Search "Michael J. O'Connor" on this blog to learn some of the buildings in Hudson that are/were his work.) In 2003, the church, pristine and unchanged from the way is was meant to be, was included in Arthur Baker's book Wooden Churches: Columbia County Legacy. The picture below is from that book.

Photo: Arthur Baker, Wooden Churches

In 2010, soon after the congregation from St. John's Lutheran Church, having sold their building at Sixth and Columbia streets, merged with the congregation of Emanuel Lutheran, it was decided that, to avoid the expense of painting the building periodically, it should be covered with vinyl siding. That process, which was done without a certificate of appropriateness from the Historic Preservation Commission, got a lot of attention on Gossips in the summer of 2010, and inspired Chris Wagoner, then alderman for the Third Ward, to call for the resignation of code enforcement officer Peter Wurster for allowing the project to circumvent the HPC. Despite public outcry, the building was clad in vinyl siding.

Earlier this year, the church was put up for sale, with an original asking price of $1.1 million. (According to Zillow, the sale is now in contract for $999,000.) This past Friday, the new owner appeared before the Historic Preservation Commission seeking a certificate of appropriateness for the "restoration" of the building he is proposing. He plans to paint the entire building and the adjoining parsonage white, or alabaster. Since the building is now covered in vinyl siding, that means the paint will go over the vinyl. This seems ironic, since the parishioners covered the building with vinyl siding in 2010 so they would not have to paint it. The applicant also wants to replace the windows on both sides of the building--both the lower windows and the stained glass windows above--with two over two double-hung windows.

Photo: Stone House Properties

The applicant initially said he intended to donate the stained glass windows to another church, but later he said he wanted to make the building "secure and safe" and maintained that the stained glass windows are "falling apart." When asked by a member of the HPC if there was "any opportunity to restore the stained glass windows," the applicant argued that the windows could not be restored and asserted, "I'm an artist; I need light."

Photo: Stone House Properties

Photo: Stone House Properties

Architect Larry Bowne, who was at the meeting representing another project before the commission, suggested that the goal of getting more light into the building might be accomplished by installing skylights in the roof. That suggestion was rejected by the applicant, who seemed to feel it was not in keeping with a "restoration." Later in the discussion HPC chair Phil Forman said there was a distinct difference between considering things that represent modernization or adaptive reuse and removing historic material. The applicant defended his plans for the building by saying, "I want to honor the architecture as best I can, but I'm also making an investment in this building because I'm an artist, and those things that I pointed out are very important to the continuation of why I'm investing the type of money that I'm investing in this building, which would otherwise fall into the hands of someone who would probably continue to let it decay." HPC member John Schobel took issue with that statement, saying, "This is Hudson. Just because someone has purchased a building and invested in it doesn't mean the alternative is decay."

The HPC will hold a public hearing on what is being proposed for the church on Friday, June 23, at 10:00 a.m.

COPYRIGHT 2023 CAROLE OSTERINK