Actor Mark Ruffalo, comedian Amy Schumer & more join fight to save Upper West Side church
NEW YORK -- A fight over a landmark church took center stage on the Upper West Side on Saturday.
Actor Mark Ruffalo was among the speakers gathering inside West-Park Presbyterian Church.
The church on 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue was given landmark status 13 years ago, but now, the owners of the church want to reverse that so they can sell it, claiming a financial hardship.
- Read more: Owners of West-Park Presbyterian Church want to strip building of landmark status, sell it
Some prominent activists want to keep it from being torn down.
"What they're talking about doing is tearing down this church, demolishing this history to build a luxury high-rise," Ruffalo said.
"We're not realizing the money that a sale might generate. We would use some of the money to restore our mission. We had to let go of our pastor," West-Park Presbyterian Church congregant Marsha Flowers said.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission will hear public testimony on the matter this coming Tuesday.
