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Wed. November 22, 2006, 07:49am PST
Bid farewell to United Methodist
Seems the rather paltry struggle to preserve the 90 year old United Methodist Church building has come to an end. A deadline to file a lawsuit to keep it standing past yesterday. According to an article in Today's News Tribune, no local historical group had enough money. The building was first sold to MultiCare then handed back to the church so they could remove artifacts. This also meant if the space was still owned by a religious institution there's little to no legal precedent for tearing such buildings down due to "free exercise of religion". Check and mate, MultiCare. Well played.
Here's to hoping that as Tacoma grows a) this tactic won't be used to bypass historic preservation in other cases and b) that money for or against tearing something historic down won't always be the battle. We need investment here that is aware and sensitive to accepting our history while helping ensure our future. Look along Pacific at the rich history preserved in all the thoughtful renovation of buildings there and take note that this is what will attract people and business.
Link to the News Tribune
Also in the Daily Index [pdf]
Here are some photos of the United Methodist exterior I snapped in late July.
Comments (3) | To Top
11/22/2006 @ 1:03pm
A sad development in Tacoma.
One of the draws of Tacoma is its rich architecture history and we are about to lose a significant portion of that now.
"According to an article in Today's News Tribune, no local historical group had enough money."
The case was never really made by anyone that the value of the United Methodist Church outweighed the benefit of demolishing the building for a new structure.
Yet, I am pleased to see a good article in the Tacoma Daily Index today on rasing public awareness.
Preservationists are wise to look for long terms strategies to save historic buildings.
However, they should look to the methods of the groups who saved Albers Mill and the Murray Morgan Bridge for more immediate threats.
Yet, unlike these structures, no one person or group really stuck their neck out to try to stop the razing of the Methodist Church building.
Ironically, the United Methodist Church presented an easier case to challenge to oppose demolition as they transferred the church back to Multicare at one point.
Churches in the future will likely not make this mistake.
Kevin, I hope you will consider taking pictures of the demolition to post.
by Erik
11/23/2006 @ 10:59am
I hope this is a learning lesson for us in Tacoma to place a higher value on historic buildings. They can never be recovered.
Yes, we need to see the present pictures and the demolition pictures side by side to really "get it."
by Jane
11/23/2006 @ 3:35pm
Sad.
by Jim C