St. Saviour's Church. Building in Background
Original image by Paul Ditta, courtesy FORGOTTEN-NY.COM

St. Saviour's Church. April 2, 2006

SIGN ST. SAVIOUR'S PETITION TO MAYOR BLOOMBERG!

COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF MASPETH’S ST. SAVIOUR’S CHURCH

Press Release

(7/11/06) On June 29^th, 2006, the Appellate Division, Second Department dismissed the appeal by Maspeth Development, LLC, of the order of the Honorable Patricia P. Satterfield extending the temporary restraining order which prevents demolition of historic St. Saviour's Church. The appellate division denied the developer’s motion for a stay of the temporary restraining order, and for an order directing the posting of a bond. The Juniper Park Civic Association is still awaiting the lower court’s decision concerning our motion for a preliminary injunction and the posting of an undertaking.

In the meantime, on July 10^th, 2006, the developer put the property up for sale, with an asking price of $10 million. Juniper Civic is asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to allocate city funds toward purchase of the property or to use eminent domain to save it, as was done for other historic properties.

St. Saviour’s Church was founded in 1847 atop a hill in Maspeth, Queens, on land donated by U.S. Congressman and Maspeth pioneer, James Maurice. Renowned architect, Richard Upjohn, who designed the landmark Trinity Church in Manhattan, also designed St. Saviour’s as a country wooden church in a Carpenter Gothic style.

There is a stipulation in the original deed stating that the land may only be used for the purposes of a church. Therefore, last year's sale of the property to a developer who had plans to demolish the historic church and parsonage in order to erect up to 40 homes was illegal. Based on this, JPCA's lawsuit against the developer was filed.

St. Saviour’s Church is located at 57-40 58^th Street in Maspeth, Queens.

JPCA OBTAINS TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST ST. SAVIOUR'S OWNER

(5/17/06) On Monday, May 15th, 2006, Juniper Park Civic Association, West Maspeth Local Development Corporation, former St. Saviour's parishioners and adjacent property owners obtained a temporary restraining order from New York State Supreme Court against Maspeth Development LLC which prevents them from proceeding with their planned demolition of St. Saviour's Church.

Also on Monday, the developer's attorney, Patrick Jones, met with Councilman Tony Avella to discuss a solution, but according to the Councilman, "they did not bring anything to the table."

Support for saving St. Saviour's continues to grow, with Assemblywoman Audrey Pfeffer added to the list of people calling on the Landmarks Preservation Commission to calendar the property.