Once thriving, Grand Concourse
church now just a home to squatters
“I’ve seen (drug) users
hanging out near that building
for a while, and this whole
block, I feel like you have to
watch your back,” said Sarah
DaVanon, who commutes on
the D train into Manhattan
from the nearby 174-175 Street
stations.
Documents obtained by the
Bronx Times show that Pilgrim
United Church of Christ
had fulfi lled its original mortgage
obligation from 1965 until
1988. The church maintained
private ownership of
the building from thereon,
but regular gatherings and
maintenance of the property
became inconsistent to nonexistent
around the 1990s and
completely stopped in the mid-
2000s, former church members
told the Times.
The city began fl agging the
building for improper maintenance
in April 1993.
Despite no active events
or services being held in the
building since the 2000s, the
property is still currently
owned by the Pilgrim United
Church of Christ, the New
York Conference confi rmed,
and a small group formerly
held services in a side building.
However, the main 1800
Grand Concourse building is
a hazard, city building offi -
cials have declared.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 2 FEBRUARY 18-24, 2022 BTR
“Last time my family went
there had to be 1998, maybe
winter of 1999” Cepeda recalled.
“But it was already a
bad place. No one took care of
it, it was falling apart and no
one wanted to be there anymore.”
The church’s February
1993 citation would become
the fi rst of a slew of buildings
violations on the building,
exceeding more than $70,000
alone, which doesn’t include
increasing fi nes and violations
for unmet city Department
of Buildings (DOB) violations.
Residents can’t place when
the building became completely
abandoned, but 2012 is
cited as the start of its deterioration,
when city building offi
cials did a full inspection of
property.
Last month, city building
inspectors conducted an investigation
of the property
and found that the church
steeple and building cornices
were deteriorating, and that it
had multiple broken windows.
In addition, it was observed
that a sidewalk shed — which
has a permit that expired in
2009 — was in poor repair. It is
illegal, buildings offi cials say,
to remove the sidewalk shed
until such work is completed
and passes inspection.
“We ordered the property
owners to make repairs to the
sidewalk shed immediately in
the interest of public safety,”
said Ryan J. Degan, spokesperson
for the city’s DOB.
“When the owners failed to
comply with this order, DOB
issued an Immediate Emergency
Declaration for city
contractors to be brought in to
repair the sidewalk shed, and
city contractors have been
brought to the site, and the
property owners will be billed
for the work.
However, city building offi
cials told the Times that
during their inspection of
building, they found the
structure still structurally
stable, and not in danger of
imminent collapse. In addition
to its communal value,
the building is steeped in the
city’s trademark Colonial
Revival style history that
defi ned the 20th century, being
constructed on the Grand
Concourse in 1910 by famed
New York architects Francis
L.V. Hoppin and Terrence A.
Koen.
For Community Board
5 members — a push began
around 2014 to restore the
building as a cultural center
or supportive housing unit
in response to fears that the
building would be demolished
— talks to acquire the property
from owners, Pilgrim
United Church of Christ, have
stalled due to lack of communication.
Attempts to reach offi -
cials from the Pilgrim United
Church of Christ denomination
for comment were unsuccessful.
“You can’t acquire a property
that doesn’t want to be
sold, and no one is going to
want to put money into a building
they don’t have access to,”
said Dr. Bola Omotosho, CB5
chair. “Historically, the building
is over a century old and
has signifi cance on the Grand
Concourse. But there are people
who would want to see
that prime location be used to
other developments — but it’s
hard when the owners don’t
want to give up the property.”
BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
Maria Cepeda remembers
when the three-story Pilgrim
United Church of Christ building
in the Mount Hope neighborhood
was a safe space for
congregation and community
for much of the mid-20th century.
“I used to laugh in that
building; pray in that building,”
said Cepeda, whose
family had been going to the
church, for more than 50 years
until the early 1990s. “That
building used to be associated
with good memories. But now
it’s a place of shame and fi lth.”
Cepeda also remembers
hearing about how her greatgrandmother
and grandmother
would visit the church
to hear lectures by acclaimed
artists, such as Fannie Hurst.
The building, in her words, defi
ned much of the Mount Hope
neighborhood’s social identity.
The church also occupied
several small buildings along
a desolate strip of buildings
on the 1800 Grand Concourse
block.
That beautiful building,
with more than 100 years of
history on the northeast corner
of East 175th and Grand
Concourse that was once
packed to the upper balcony
with 300-plus residents on
Sundays, has now become an
eyesore for community members.
In its remnants, long
abandoned by church members
since 2012, is a building
in rapid decline, and decades
of decay dating back to the
early 90’s show a property that
has been hit with more than
85 open violations by the city’s
building offi cials.
Upon fi rst sight of the
abandoned building, a room
that used to house a grand
18th century brass organ and
close communal seating for its
South Bronx congregation is
now a darkly-lit holding space
for some homeless New Yorkers
looking to fi nd warmth
or privacy from castful, judgmental
eyes. One homeless
man who referred to himself
as “Benny,” told the Times
that he’d been going inside the
church building for the last
fi ve years, and can’t recall the
last time law enforcement did
a sweep of the building.
Some residents have complained,
over time, the building
is also a place for rampant
drug use.
Documents obtained by the Bronx Times show that Pilgrim United Church of Christ had fulfi lled its original mortgage obligation from 1965 until 1988,
but regular gatherings and maintenance of the property became inconsistent to nonexistent around the 1990s. Photo | Adrian Childress