After a local developer tried to replace a Wash Park church with housing, neighbors and preservation-minded Denverites have stepped up to try to save it.
“There’s a general consensus among many neighbors that much of Wash Park’s historic fabric and scale is being lost at a rapid rate with no end in sight,” Sarah Goldblatt, a local architect and one of the citizens pushing for preservation wrote to BusinessDen via email.
The former Washington Park United Church of Christ building on 0.43 acre at 400-420 S. Williams St. was sold by that congregation in February for $4 million. The buyer was Mile High Building & Development.
The site is zoned for a single unit on a minimum 5,500-square-foot lot. Mile High’s owner, Ryan Yoffe, told BusinessDen in February that he planned to demolish the church, but had not settled on a development plan for the property.
But when Yoffe filed for a demolition permit, neighbors and preservation activists took notice. Seventeen individuals said in a letter to the city in mid-April that they intended to request that the building be made a city landmark — a status that, if approved, would effectively prevent demolition.
“At the very least, sacred spaces like the church at 400 S. Williams — which hold cultural and communal significance — deserve careful, informed consideration with meaningful community input before any demolition is approved,” Goldblatt said.
An official landmark designation application, however, has yet to be filed. Deadlines have been pushed back amid talks between preservationists and Yoffe, who declined to comment.
“The developer is working on subdividing the church lot into two lots so he can build a home on the lot adjacent to the church and then he hopes to sell the church to someone who has interest and expertise in converting the existing structure into a new use, possibly a single or multifamily residence,” Goldblatt said.
The latest deadline extension came Tuesday, when Denver’s Landmark Preservation Commission voted unanimously to give both sides until Aug. 5 to “explore rezoning options and seek [a] preservation-minded buyer.”
The 12,000-square-foot church was constructed in the early 1900s and remodeled by Denver architect William Muchow, Goldblatt said. Muchow’s portfolio of work includes the Federal Reserve Branch along the 16th Street Mall, office buildings at 1500 and 1570 Grant St. and the Park Central building at 15th and Arapahoe streets.
Yoffe is busy with other projects in Denver, currently selling off a 29-townhome development at 46th Avenue and Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood. Mile High’s website shows a portfolio of new-build custom homes from the Highlands to Cherry Creek.
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