by Geoff Cobb
The Former St. Elias Church, the iconic 1870 landmark brick building at 145 Kent Street, is going to be a monster single-family home if developers have their way. The church has been sitting vacant for more than a decade. In 2007, Hirsch Enterprises, a company specializing in church conversions, purchased the property for $3.5 million, hoping to cash in on the red-hot local property market,…
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Interesting story Geoff, thanks. For yrs. it was always referred to as a Greek RC church, now the truth comes out. Father John, the pastor at the Ascension church down the block told me about the Dutch Reformed church moving to his location but I though he said 1840!
The Ascension and the Polish Catholic Church on Driggs are about the only two of the many Christian churches in Greenpoint still thriving/standing. Many of the others stay alive by renting out their space.
The Polish church is thriving because poles come from Greenpoint and also outside the area. The Ascension is a very liberal church and new young people coming into the area found a home there. There are very few of the old time seniors left in that church.
One more thing Geoff. The CBS police show, Blue Bloods occasionally films inside the church. I was watching them film about a yr. ago and I was standing next to a young woman.
I said I don’t see any of the stars, I guess we missed the action. She said no, Donny Walberg is in the car across the street, reading his lines.
I said ok, let’s wait till he comes out and we can get a picture. Just then the window of the car opens and I see a hand calling us over. I figure he will let us take a pic of him in the car. He came out and posed for as many pictures as we wanted!
As you know there are countless movies and TV shows filmed here, the actors/crews range from friendly to outright hostile. He was one of a kind.
thanks