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The Archdiocese of Chicago intends to raze and redevelop St. Boniface Catholic Church on the city's Near Northwest Side but Egyptian Coptic Christians want to restore the church to it former glory.The Chicago Tribune reports that the 104-year-old church also has been the subject of a contentious struggle between the Chicago archdiocese and preservationists seeking to rescue the Romanesque building from the wrecking ball.
Touching off another battle to preserve its crumbling walls, the archdiocese earlier this month asked the city for a permit to raze the building, saying the cost of transforming the structure would be prohibitive in ordinary economic times much less now.
"The process used in the St. Boniface Request for Proposal was to leave no stone unturned," said Martin Jablonski, the archdiocese's real estate adviser.
"The results ..... were decisive. The existing structures on Chestnut and Noble [Streets] cannot be salvaged [as a church] without a donation of $25 million."
But preservationists said the archdiocese's decision is irresponsible and greedy. They point to the archdiocese's reluctance to negotiate with members of the local Egyptian Coptic Orthodox community who made a bid to save the building.
"In the eyes of the archdiocese ..... they have this great piece of land with this great view of downtown, and they obviously want to maximize it to what they consider is their highest and best use," said Jonathan Fine, executive director for Preservation Chicago, a non-profit devoted to preserving historic architecture.
When the archdiocese prepared to demolish the parish in 2003, preservationists and the city stepped in to block it by declaring it a landmark. In the end, a small religious order took over the church, restoring the building.
St. Boniface has now been vacant for nearly two decades. For most of that time, the archdiocese has sought to attract a tenant to sign a long-term lease on the structure, hoping to maintain ownership of the land.
In 2003, the archdiocese tried to drive interest by hosting a design contest focused on alternative uses for the building.
The winning design - a modern day care and community center within the church's historic nave - proved too costly to carry out.
Now the property faces so many building violations that it poses a threat to neighbors and pedestrians walking by, said Ald. Walter Burnett (27th).
Founded as a German parish, St. Boniface embodies the story of the neighborhood now known as West Town. Organized in 1864 and housed in a wood frame structure, St. Boniface survived the Chicago Fire of 1871 and served as a refuge for Chicagoans displaced by the blaze.
Many of them eventually relocated to the surrounding neighborhood, building it up and eventually building the brick edifice that stands today. Eventually, the parish became predominantly Polish. And a few decades later, it became largely Latino.
"It was the epicenter of the culture for a lot of our history," Fine said. "It helped build West Town."
The demolition will not happen right away. Because the parish is rated Code Orange in landmark lingo, the archdiocese cannot proceed with demolition for 90 days while the city weighs its request. That delay gives preservationists or religious organizations time to step in and save the building now priced at more than $2 million.
Cameel Halim, chairman of the Wilmette-based Coptic Assembly of America, said the Egyptian Coptics offered a $100,000 donation to an unspecified Catholic charity in exchange for ownership and control of the building to carry out the renovations, which would be partly funded by supporters in Egypt.
"We're dying for this church," Halim said. They want to "bring this building back to its glory."
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(Source: CTHUS)