St. James Catholic Church Demolition Continues
By JoshMogerman in News on Jul 15, 2013 4:20PM
Last week Green (and Red) Line riders got a clear look at a Chicago historic preservation nightmare as trains rumbled past a slowly disappearing St. James Church. Before the Independence Day holiday, demolition crews began nibbling away at the near South Side church; taking axes to the 133-year-old slate roof after the Archdiocese of Chicago deemed the building too far gone to save.
The decision has been controversial, leading to protests from preservationists and members of the congregation alike. The anger is easy to understand as the church, located on Wabash near the tubular 35th Street/Bronzeville L stop, has long been stood watch over the changing Near South Side landscape, even as the building’s decline forced parishioners to hold services elsewhere.
Despite the decay, the church had been a bulwark of its neighborhood for decades and maintains a hold not just on its parishioners but on those interested in Chicago's past.
Tim Samuelson, the city of Chicago's cultural historian, has called St. James' soaring tower a unique architectural reminder of the carriage-trade era in which it was built. The parish's founders lived in nearby brownstones and mansions, most of them long gone.
Later, the neighborhood hosted African-Americans fleeing Southern segregation, only to encounter the Northern variety, during the Great Migration of the early 20th Century.
The parish's estimated 400 households today reflect Chicago's ethnic prism: black and white, poor and affluent, workaday folks and students from the nearby Illinois Institute of Technology.
The church's architectural and historical significance was cited by Ward Miller, acting director of Preservation Chicago, which has campaigned side by side with congregants trying to save St James.
"With such a rich social and cultural history, why the rush to tear it down?" he said.
Author Mary Pat Kelly told WBEZ:
“For the Irish community, this is an icon, this is a shrine. To knock it down is beyond belief, especially because since then, the African-American community has maintained it, and it has become a symbol of their triumph over adversity.”
When we stopped by on Sunday, gaping holes in the roof had been opened and an exterior wall had been tumbled to expose the sanctuary to the elements. For passersby, it’s a surreal image of slow destruction, as another South Side church is reduced to ruins. But for parishioners and community members who lost the fight to keep St. James, the replacement house of worship coming to the neighborhood will likely do little to salve raw emotions as they watch a beloved place central to their lives being slowly devoured.
Here is Chicago Tonight's take:
Related:
Demolition of St. James Catholic Church to Begin Wednesday
St. James Catholic Church Stands Quiet On Easter