Historic NYC churches and landmarks at risk of being razed for the sake of affordable housing: sources

New York City has stopped awarding historic landmark designations, leaving some of the city’s most notable old buildings at risk of being razed.According to city records, no buildings are currently even under consideration by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the department charged with protecting sites of beauty and significance from bulldozers.That puts this year on track to be the worst ever for preservation since the department began in 1965.“Without landmark protection, it’s very likely that eventually all of the historic buildings, the tenements, the old synagogues and churches, the institutional buildings will be demolished and turned into luxury housing and expensive hotels, the way things are going,” Richard Moses, president of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, told The Post of the current climate.The socialists who have taken over have a dim view of preserving old buildings, particularly houses of worship, because they’d rather see more affordable apartments.They claim keeping churches from being torn down isn’t “equitable.” Preservationists are particularly alarmed over the fate of Most Holy Redeemer church on East 3rd Street in Manhattan’s East Village — a granite and limestone cathedral built in 1851 by German missionaries.The building, owned by the Catholic diocese, has been closed to regular service in recent years, only occasionally hosting events, said Moses.“I would call it the most important landmarking situation in the East Village.

It’s really a beautiful church and the interior is really magnificent,” said Moses, adding that designation doesn’t usually protect the inside of buildings.“The Lower East Side really is one of the most important historic areas in the country in our view.At one point, about a third of Americans could trace their routes through the Lower East Side,” he added.If the church were given a preservation order, then even if sold its façade would b...