By Owen Boss
Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish's hopes of quickly tearing down an abutting rectory hit a speed bump Tuesday night when the city's Historical Commission voted 6-1 to preferably preserve the 180-year-old structure.
Although prior to the meeting commission members were also prepared to decide the fate of the nearby Christian Life Center, commission Chairwoman Barbara B. Blumenthal announced that the building falls within Northampton's Central Business District and a decision on its demolition would therefore be voted on tonight at a meeting of the city's Central Business Architecture Committee.
Tuesday's public hearing drew a small crowd of 15 residents to the Community Room at JFK Middle School and all who spoke, including the church's pastor, the Rev. John E. Connors, called on the panel to approve the demolition in the hopes that it would allow for more parking spaces and a larger gathering place for the sudden increase in parishioners.
Arlene Roula, who serves on the church's interim Parish Council, said she came to the meeting to address the commission as a parishioner and reminded members of the importance of having an abutting community center that can provide for all of the parish's churchgoers.
"It is so important to be able to walk right from the ceremony at the church to a parish hall to have a celebration," Roula said. "Especially for this newly formed parish."
Sacred Heart Church is now home to the newly created St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish, which formed after the consolidation of five Northampton parishes this year. Built around 1916, the church itself is on the city's list of historic properties.
The rectory, built in 1830, required a review by the commission under a demolition-delay law enacted in 2005. The local ordinance protects properties from demolition for up to 12 months if the commission determines they are historically, architecturally or culturally significant.
The ordinance requires a review of all properties built in 1900 or earlier and properties built from 1901 to 1939 if they are listed on a historical inventory complied by the Historical Commission.
The commission's decision means the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield can reapply for a demolition permit after 12 months, which commission member David Drake said should allow designers time to consider the option of preserving the rectory.
"This ordinance is meant to encourage thoughtfulness, not impede change," Drake said.
Bruce Kriviskey, who cast the only vote against preserving the rectory, said modern renovations to the building meant that it no longer fit the commission's criteria for preservation, including whether the structure is intact and in the original style.
"In my opinion, based on my experience both as an architect and an architectural historian, I think the church should be taken out back and shot for having taken this original building and turned it into a piece of 20th-century junk," Kriviskey said, holding up a photo of the original building. "This is not a representation of the historical quality that was there to start with. To me (the rectory) does not represent the architectural quality of a building built here in Northampton during that period."
With the closing of three churches in the city in January, attendance at the Elm Street church has increased dramatically and created a parking crunch, according to Connors. Sacred Heart Church currently has parking for 45 vehicles; had the commission approved demolition Tuesday night, he anticipated adding 100 more spaces for parishioners.
In addition to parking, Connors also said he hoped the demolition would allow for the construction of a new green space and parish hall, the preliminary plans for which were presented to commission members Tuesday night.
For the time being, the parish will continue to use the hall at St. John Cantius Church on Hawley Street, which closed along with Blessed Sacrament and St. Mary of the Assumption churches on Elm Street. Our Lady of the Annunciation, in Florence, remains open as a place of worship, serving as a chapel.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
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