The Harlem Properties Team at Compass presents the sale of the landmark structure that has housed Greater Metropolitan Baptist Church (GMBC) since 1985.
Originally built and dedicated in 1897/1898 as “St. Paul’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church”, this iconic structure has had a long and important history to the populations living around 125th Street from the late 1800s to present day.
The building was designed by two German architects, Ernest W. Schneider and Henry Herter, who broke from the popular Romanesque style of that time to construct this beautifully detailed Gothic facade at 147-149 West 123rd Street (Landmark Site: Borough of Manhattan Tax Map Block 1908, Lot 9.)
Sometimes referred to as “English Gothic,” the symmetrical tripartite design, gives this mid-block structure a sense of monumentality. In a large section in the center of the gabled facade, a rose window of opalescent glass once existed above the main entryway, and inside, several large memorial windows that were imported from Munich.
The facade is flanked by two square end towers, each with their own entrances, and are decorated with several lancet windows and finial-capped spires that rises over 80 feet.
The exterior masonry walls are faced in bluish-gray ashlar Vermont marble strengthened by stone buttresses, and spanned by steel trusses and beams which in turn support the roof, originally slate, but resurfaced with asphalt shingles.
On the lower level of the building, a sixteen-foot-high basement was originally built to accommodate classrooms and meeting rooms, but today houses GMBC’s parish hall, kitchen, and two bathrooms. There are double-hung windows on the front of the lower level which allow for light and air.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the most sophisticated buyers and developers.
Asking price upon request.
