89 Park Street | ? | 2x31 fl | Proposed
 

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...ion-crossroads

Philpott parishioners at $13.4-million crossroads

A plan to take Philpott Memorial Church into the future is finally ready, and after 30 years of debate, it’s time for a decision.

Parishioners of the downtown church, which is more than a century old, are considering whether to tear it down and rebuild in an ambitious project that could cost as much as $13.4 million and take years to complete.

It’s a decision that’s exciting and scary at the same time, said church administrator James Dean, and the discussions have been ongoing “for the last few years.”

This will be at least the third time Philpott has considered a renovation or a rebuild in the past 30 years. In 1991, the congregation did not support a renovation proposal that would have cost $3 million.

Dean and the church’s steering committee unveiled their dream — called A Kingdom Build — to about 30 parishioners on the weekend and will hold more information sessions this week. He admitted at this point it’s hard to tell if the plan has the full support of the congregation.

“One of the things we are doing is getting permission for fundraising,” Dean said. “Nothing will be confirmed until (a vote) on the 28th of April.”

Senior pastor Lane Fusilier said he preferred not to speak outside of the church until a decision has been made.

“Everything is preliminary,” he said. “I may have some exciting things to tell you about in a couple of weeks.”

A complete rebuild is an unusual project for a church to undertake but renovating the venerable building on York Boulevard across from Copps Coliseum is not feasible, its steering committee believes.

The cost to repair the roof and ceiling of the sanctuary alone would cost about $2 million and those repairs would still not bring the facility up to city code requirements.

If approved, the project would begin with the construction of a new sanctuary/auditorium behind the church, where the parking lot sits. The first phase is expected to cost $4.7 million. Thier + Curran Architects Inc. of Hamilton has been hired to design the project.

One highlight of the plan is theatre-style seating for approximately 900 with state-of-the-art acoustics, audio, video and lighting. It’s hoped the new auditorium will be better for the congregation, but also used for plays and concerts for community groups.

Dean said the theatre would be an affordable, ideal downtown location for local performing arts groups. A coffee shop included in the final phase of the three-part expansion would open onto Park Street, where it could be used by the congregation and the public.

The Associated Gospel Church typically has 300 to 400 adults attending one of two sermons on Sundays, with parishioners who have roots in more than 50 countries.

The downtown church is also active in the community with programs such as cooking and crafts for new Canadians and men’s soccer. During the winter, a drop-in program offers hot chocolate and cookies for the homeless.

Sanford Avenue School is being demolished, the 140-year-old All Saints Church is coming down soon, and now this.....Why can't Hamilton learn from it's past....

well at least the congregation is staying downtown, and in a particularly depressed area. I also understand the problem with some of these churches - what do you do with them afterwards? I'd love to have far fewer churches on the heritage list and far more commercial blocks (ie the Coppley building). If they build a new church there with a nice design and no giant parking lot then I'd be happy.

^Would a new church not require a veritable sea of parking or is that only with residential and commercial properties?

The plans:

http://www.getchurch.org/files/getch...L%20Mobile.pdf

It looks nice and seems to interact with the street better.

I have a hard time getting excited about two-storey builds downtown (the block is zoned for up to 30 storeys), especially quad-phased ones, but it's better than most of what is generally proposed downtown. Hopefully they get the whole thing completed.

As far as parking considerations, Philpott owns the lot next to Coppley and is willing to purchase another lot as demand merits. The Case to Proceed notes:

"For the last several decades, we have been blessed with abundant on-site parking. It has been so abundant that we have rented out the excess during the week, which has become a significant source of revenue for us. Nevertheless, as the A Kingdom Build project has progressed, we have realized that we need most of our property for ministry space. We had to make a choice between the convenience of on-site parking and the necessity of accessible ministry areas. We chose the latter. As a downtown church, there are several transportation options that reduce parking requirements.

We also own the parking lot across the street. We could envision reserving that lot for seniors and families with small children. Arrangements for additional local parking can be made, as there are several lots within a two-block radius of Philpott. We have free use of one of the city lots just one block away. If required in the future, we may consider the purchase of another lot close at hand."

The current building is nice but it's horrible for street presence along York, a solid wall.

I like Phase 1 of the project...
http://i45.tinypic.com/9a4okh.jpg


but then Phase 2 will happen and the old church has to be demolished...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ps2a3ba4af.png



The whole project (Phase 2) is nice, but if they are going to start from scratch why not buy an empty lot or a lot with something that should be demolished and build it there? I'm sick of people saying their only option is to demolish buildings and start new downtown.



There are options to save the church:

- Stop at Phase 1, reuse the old church and build an addition on the north side.

or

- Sell the church to someone that knows how to reuse buildings (like the new owner of the James St Baptist Church), and build a new church somewhere else.

on the parking issue, isn't there already a silly rule that church goers can park on the street and not get fined? Or is that an urban legend?

There's also a parking structure across from the library at Macnab. That's probably also free on Sunday.

Philpott Church rebuild fundraising plan gets resounding ‘yes’ from congregation

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...m-congregation

A multimillion-dollar proposal to demolish and rebuild a historic downtown church has been supported by its congregation.

Pastor Lane Fusilier of Philpott Memorial Church said the proposal to begin fundraising received the support of 90 per cent of the congregation. A decision on whether to rebuild the more than 100-year-old church on York Boulevard across from Copps Coliseum will be dependant on the success of the fundraising plan.

The project could cost as much as $13.4 million.

A complete rebuild is an unusual project for a church to undertake but a renovation was not feasible, the project’s steering committee believes. Repairs to the roof and ceiling of the sanctuary alone would cost about $2 million and would still not bring the facility up to city code requirements.

Before demolishing the current building, a new sanctuary/auditorium would be built behind the church, where the parking lot sits now. The first phase is expected to cost $4.7 million. Thier + Curran Architects Inc. of Hamilton was hired to design the project.

The plan includes the construction of theatre-style seating for approximately 900 with state-of-the-art acoustics, audio, video and lighting. It’s hoped the new auditorium will be better for the congregation, but also used for plays and concerts for community groups.

The Associated Gospel Church typically has 300 to 400 adults attending one of two sermons on Sundays, with parishioners who have roots in more than 50 countries.

While the building is beloved by some in the community, demolition is permitted because the building is not designated under the Ontario Heritage Act.

What mixed feelings I have.

At first galne, I hate the look, especially when compared to the magnificent old building.

I loved the descriptions of what some of the intent is. ( central, open atrium, cafe, open space - piazza, glass stalls)

Thirdly: Isn't this supposed to be a church? :???:

What kind of world do we live in when churches don't even look like churches? I guess this congregation isn't particularly proud of itself.

I disagree. This is a great example of modern urban design, meant to bring people in, inviting to the street, unlike most old churches meant to loom and create a sense of grandeur. If there's only so much heritage capital going around then we should be designating the entire Gore before all these useless churches trying to do Rome circa 13th century.

One where architectural idioms are varied and heritage is subjective.

Spec: "The Associated Gospel Church typically has 300 to 400 adults attending one of two sermons on Sundays, with parishioners who have roots in more than 50 countries."

Also, Matthew 18:20.

Oh, Matthew. He did have a way with words, though I'm more of an Ezekiel fan, particularly 23:19-21.

Where architecture is concerned, I'm a real stickler.

I like my houses to look like this:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/DSCN3582.jpg

My stadiums like this:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...ardStadium.jpg

My commercial like this:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/DSCN3524.jpg

My parks:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/DSCN3494.jpg

My banks:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/DSCN3491.jpg

And my churches like this:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...74/stpauls.jpg

Architecture firms are under pressure to do things differently, I'm sure. But the art and science of architecture was perfected many, many years ago, so for an architect to suggest anything different is just a tad presumptuous.

The great I.M. Pei felt and still feels strongly about changing the way buildings are designed. This wasn't good enough for him:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2da4f1bc.jpg
http://www.anefian.com/makepage.pl?p...&tree=location

He felt it could be improved upon, so he built this:
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps20dad451.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_City_Hall

Completely unidentifiable as a place of governance. In fact, it's impossible to guess what might be happening inside this building. No doubt something sinister, though.

We have to keep architects in check because some of them have extraordinary egos and feel they can ignore the expertise bestowed upon us over the past two thousand years. That's a dangerous thing.

Architecture should communicate with people in a very literal way - you shouldn't have to guess what sort of function it serves or how one might even gain entrance to the building (i.e. The convention centre, Hamilton Place, the former AGH, etc.).

Creativity is such a wonderful thing. I just don't see a place for it in architecture. See Paris for further elaboration on this point.

The French have always been pretty hermetic about their culture (which means that they actually value it and invest in it, whereas we tend not to). The revamp of Paris benefitted from its planner's freedom to wipe a medieval capital largely off the map and leverage the resources of an emperor, allowing him to resurrect a city in about the same time it took Hamilton to botch its Civic Square playbook and York Boulevard in the bargain. (Apparently our people only skimmed the Haussmann Plan Coles Notes.)

Even so, Paris is an imperfect time capsule.

I'm a fan of the house paragon you cited. Sensitive update when the upstairs became new apartments.

Does anyone know if the exterior scaffolding at the building is because Philpott opted for renovation instead of re-building?