A battle over whether the D.C. Christian Science church can legally demolish its grim, hulking church a few blocks from the White House is about to be resurrected.
The city’s Historic Preservation Board has designated the Third Church of Christ, Scientist, as an untouchable historic landmark, despite the church’s fervent wishes to tear it down. That wish is echoed by community activists who find the blocky, institutional structure an eyesore.
But the preservation board members see irreplaceable architectural value in the 37-year-old fortress-like structure.
It’s an argument that will be rehashed in the D.C. Council beginning next week with the introduction of a bill from Council Member Jack Evans.
Darrow Kirkpatrick, First Reader for the church and a longtime member, said the congregation has worshipped at one structure or another within six blocks of its location at the corner of 16th and I streets for 90 years.
“We have a mission to serve downtown – residents, visitors, the homeless, you name it,” he said. “The church is not meeting our needs, so we need one that will.”
The church says maintaining the building is ruinously expensive, and it would prefer to replace the structure with a more modern design.
Paramount among the concerns is the ineffective lighting, which according to the church Web site costs $8,000 a pop to change. The heating and cooling systems also are severely outdated, load-bearing walls on the outside of the facility are deteriorating and the entrance is barely visible, let alone welcome, the site says.
The Historic Preservation Board, though, said there are ways to preserve the building without getting rid of it entirely.
Those that side with the Christian Science congregation far outnumber the board, with the Advisory Neigborhood Commission unanimously opposing the landmark designation.
ANC Commissioner Mike Silverstein told The Examiner it comes down to an extreme violation of the Constitution and that a landmark designation is not allowed to even be granted before a building turns 50 years old.
“The preservation board has absolutely gone outside of the law,” he said.
Evans’ bill is broader than the Christian Science church and is designed to exempt property owned and used by religious institutions from historic designations if doing so places a substantial burden on the group’s religious exercise.
That legislation has yet to be assigned to a committee.
