Planning for the Reuse of Cambria City Churches Johnstown ...Johnstown, Pennsylvania November 18-20, 2010 Partners for Sacred Places. Why Should We Sustain Historic ... ¥Utilizes

Planning for the Reuse of Cambria City Churches

Johnstown, Pennsylvania

November 18-20, 2010

Partners for Sacred Places

Why Should We Sustain Historic

Sacred Places?• Older churches, synagogues and

meetinghouses anchor ourstreetscapes, mark our skylines andoffer the best artistry andarchitecture in our neighborhoods

• Research data shows that urbanchurches open their buildings toserve people in need, oftensacrificially

• Churches stabilize neighborhoods,increasing housing values anddecreasing vacancies

Twenty Years Ago:

National Advocate & Resource

Center Needed

• Partners for Sacred Places was founded as the only

national, non-profit, nonsectarian organization

devoted to preserving America’s historic religious

properties and strengthening the communities

they serve

• Serves as a bridge between faith community and

historic preservation

• Utilizes the Pennsylvania region as a laboratory

for new outreach and programs

Programs and Services

• Information

Clearinghouse

• Publications

• New Dollars/New

Partners Training in

40 cities/states

• Regional Programs in

Pennsylvania, Illinois

and Texas

St. Ambrose parish, Chicago

Research:

Sacred Places at Risk

• National attention for

research in six cities on the

“public value” of religious

properties

• The project is the first

unbiased look at how

congregations share space

for community services

More Sacred Places at Risk

• 93% of urban congregations open

their doors to serve outside

members of the community

• Each congregation provides, on

average, 5,300 hours of volunteer

service annually

• Value of space and resources put

into programs is over $140,000 per

congregation

• 76% of all services provided are

located within a congregation’s

own building

Church Closings

• Many denominations are faced with closing

churches as congregations shrink and resources are

scarce

• Civic leaders often desire that closed sacred places

remain assets in the community

• More creative solutions to adapting sacred places to

new uses are being created throughout the country.

• This process is often a challenge but can catalyze

civic pride, economic and cultural development

• Roman CatholicBishop Gumbletonworks with Partners inwake of Detroitclosings

• Design charrettebrings new ideas foruse of closed orreconfigured buildings

Early Experiences:

Sacred Places in Transition

Why Sustain Cambria City’s

Sacred Places• Immaculate Conception, St.

Columba, Ss Casmir andEmerich are communityassets because of the historythey embody, theirarchitecture, the way theyanchor the neighborhood, andthe promise they hold for newuse.

• It is possible to develop new,sustainable uses for all threeproperties.

How Did This Project Evolve?

• In 2009, five churches in the Cambria City

neighborhood of Johnstown – Immaculate

Conception (German), St. Columba (Irish), Ss.

Casimir & Emerich (Polish/Hungarian), St.

Rochus (Croatian) and St. Stephen’s (Slovak) –

were closed, and their parishes merged.

• The new parish, which was renamed Resurrection,

meets in the former St. Stephen’s church building.

The St. Rochus church building serves the new

parish as a chapel.

How Did This Project Evolve?

• Partners for Sacred Places was retained with

funding raised through Save Our Steeples and

the Johnstown Regional Partnership to help

lead the a planning process, together with

the!EADS Group.

• Many meetings and conversation have been

held with community leaders. From these

conversations, a steering committee was

formed to help guide the the planning process.

Steering Committee• Monsignor Raymond Balta, St.

Mary’s Byzantine Church

• Richard Burkert, Johnstown Area

Heritage Association

• Brad Clemenson, Pennsylvania

Environmental Council

• Kristen Denne, City Manager of

Johnstown

• Rose Howarth, Save Our Steeples,

Johnstown City Council

• Frank Janakovic, ARCP, Johnstown

City Council

• Shelley Johansson, Johnstown Area

Heritage Association

• Mike Kane, Community Foundation

for the Alleghenies

• Marie Mock, Save Our Steeples,

Johnstown City Council

• Adam Mundok, Venue of Merging

Arts

• Jim Penna, district director, Rep.

Mark Critz

• Ben Policicchio, Conemaugh Health

System

• John Springer, architect, UpStreet

Architects

• Fr. Alan Thomas, Resurrection Parish

• Rick Truscello, EADS Group

• Rich Uzelac, Bottleworks Ethnic Arts

Center

• Barbara Zaborowski, Save Our

Steeples, Penn Highlands Community

College

Design Charrette

• A design charrette is

an intensive, hands-on

workshop that brings

citizens, community

leaders, and designers

together to build a new

or alternative vision

for a building or place

through a creative,

collaborative process.

• The charrette team will

consider other successful

adaptive use projects and

consider the particular

attributes of Cambria

City and of each church

when developing

preliminary design

concepts for the

churches.

Architects and Planners

• Carmine Carapella of

Pittsburgh, PA

• Clive Copping of

TranSystems in

Philadelphia, PA

• Ryan Kolar Architecture,

Chicago

• Ola Johansson, of

University of Pittsburgh-

Johnstown

•David O. Lose of Loseand Associates,Nashville, TN

•Ben Policiccio ofMemorial Medical Centerin Johnstown

•John Springer ofUpstreet architects inIndiana, PA

•Fred Watts of Celli-Flynn Brennan Architects& Planners of Pittsburgh

Guiding Principles

• We are not advocating for a particular reuse

option for any site, but managing a process

where options are rigorously explored with

significant community input.

• We recognize the real challenges involved but

will focus on the positive and the possible.

• The ideas and plans that evolve from this

process will focus on the practical and doable

Guiding Principles

• We want to connect with larger planninginitiatives, economic goals for Johnstown as awhole.

• Many people in Johnstown have a strong interestin the fate of these churches. This process willinvolve a variety of stakeholders.

• We want to build upon and support the varietyof positive developments in the neighborhood,including those instituted by businesses, newand long-time non-profits, the faith community,and long-time and new residents.

Johnstown

and

Cambria City

- Small neighborhood: 3 x 10

blocks

- Major streets: Broad Street

and Chestnut Street

- Mixed land use: residential,

commercial, cultural

institutions

Cambria City• Urban design

– Most buildings constructed

between 1890 and 1920

– Majority of original buildings

were destroyed during the first

Johnstown Flood in 1889

– Working-class vernacular

wood-frame buildings

– Wall-to-wall and façade

against the street

A National Historic District on

the National Register of

Historic Places

Typical streetscape: Chestnut Street

Cambria City Culture and

Heritage

• Artworks

• Bottle Works Ethnic Art Center

• Heritage Discovery Center

• Children’s Museum

• Venue for Merging Arts

• Jazz Concerts

• Ethnic Festival

Church Overview Multiple churches were constructed to serve disparate immigrant groups.

Each of the churches reflect the congregation’s ethnic heritage and the

history of the parish.

Immaculate Conception, Ss. Casimir & Emerich, St

Columba (from left to right)

Immaculate Conception

•Location: Broad St. & 3rd

Avenue

•Served German residents of

Cambria City

•Construction on current

church was completed in

1908

• Following 1983 fire, the

church underwent major

renovations

Immaculate Conception

• Victorian Gothic Revival church designed by William P. Ginther

of Ohio

• Side-steeple church with belfry and spire

• Exterior combines yellow brick walls and brownstone trim

• Tripartite entry portal

St. Columba

• Constructed in

1913-1914

• Served English-

speaking Irish

immigrants of

Cambria City

Architectural Characteristics: St. Columba

• Lombard Romanesque

style building

• Designed by Pittsburgh

architect John T. Comes

• Built entirely of brick and

includes brick and stone

decorations

• Four stories tower with a

square base and octagonal

top

• Unique altar mural,

incorporating themes from

the war-ridden world of

1919

Ss. Casimir & Emerich• Situated on Power

Street facing

Conemaugh River

•Built in 1902-1907

•First served the Polish

residents of Cambria

City

•Originally called St.

Casimir, but the

congregation merged

with the Hungarian St.

Emerich parish in 1990

Ss. Casimir & Emerich• Large Romanesque style building designed by local architect

Walter Myton

• Design is characterized by stone exterior

• Two three-story belfry towers, both to the left and right of the

main entrance

• Includes a basement

Re-imagining Sacred Places

• Sacred places have enormous potential for

reuse. These new uses can be grouped as

follows:

1. Arts

2. Institutional use

3. Business and Residential

Cultural Adaptive Reuse

Possible uses: Theaters, Music Venues, Libraries,

Ethnic Heritage Centers, Multi-purpose Venues

Sacred Heart Cultural Center

• Sacred Heart Church

• Augusta, GA

• Reuse date: 1987

• With investment of $2.6

million, church houses

choral concerts, exhibits,

holiday events and the

offices of art groups after

being vacant for 16 years.

• Seven arts groups uses the

rectory for office space

Iron Gate Theater

• Tabernacle United

Church

• Philadelphia, PA

• A registered historic

landmark.

• Houses a

theater/auditorium,

rehearsal rooms,

congregations.

Maine Irish Heritage Center

• St. Dominic’s RomanCatholic Church

• Portland, ME

• Reuse Date 2002-04

• Coalition of communitymembers organized tosave the building.

• Houses library, genealogycenter, performance,community and meetingspace.

McColl Center of Visual Art

• Associate Reformed

Presbyterian Church

• Charlotte, NC

• Reuse Date: 1998/9

• Church burned and amidst

worsening downtown

blight, a Bank of America

executive transformed the

church into a 34,000 sq. ft.

studio and gallery space.

Villa Victoria Center for the Arts

• Boston, MA

• Reuse Date: 1986

• Latin American Arts

heritage space offering

450-person capacity

for performances,

exhibits, classes.

Fremont Abbey Arts Center

• St. Paul’s LutheranChurch

• Seattle, WA

• Reuse Date: 2006

• Century-old churchrenovated as an artseducation andperformance center bylocal non-profit.

Library

• Maastricht,

Netherlands

• Reuse Date: 2007

• Architects awarded for

a steel, two story

library and altar-to-

reading area

conversion.

Educational and Social ServicePossible Uses: schools; day care; counseling

and treatment centers, offices.

King Center Charter School

• St. Mary of SorrowsCatholic Church

• Buffalo, NY

• Renovation Date: 1986-96

• New charter school,community center, library,offices and pregnancyprevention/healtheducation center arestabilizing components inthe community.

Centro Familiar Guadalupano

• St Vitus Catholic Church

• Chicago, IL

• Reuse Date: 1992-96

• Community task force andinterfaith groups startedinitiative.

• Day care and after schoolprograms of 200+ childrenas well as nonprofit officesare housed in 4,500 sq. ft.renovated space.

Commercial

Possible uses: restaurants, doctors and dentist

offices, night clubs, gyms

Corporate Headquarters

• Church of the NewJerusalem

• Philadelphia, PA

• Reuse date: 1989

• Congregation workedclosely with buyer andPreservation Pennsylvaniato develop a protectivecovenant and devise aninterior office designsensitive to historic fabric.

The Church Brew Works

• St. John the BaptistChurch

• Lawrenceville, PA

• Developer workedwith representatives ofthe diocese to workout an acceptable priceand usage: brewingand serving drinks,serving food.

The Verdin Company

• Cincinnati, OH

• Reuse Date: 1981-3

• The oldest

clockmaking company

in the country

renovated the space

for $1.5 million over 2

years for a corporate

HQ and event space.http://www.belleventcentre.com/asp/index.asp

Undercover Rock

• St. Werburgh’s

Church

• Bristol, UK

• Church’s walls,

pillars, fins, overhangs

and arches provide

unique climbing

atmosphere.http://www.tryclimbing.co.uk/2010/06/alter-rock-derbys-indoor-

climbing-wall/

Church Court Condominiums

• Mount Vernon Church

• Boston, MA

• New building makes

reference to the historic

church, utilizing the walls

that stood standing after a

fire.

• Entire structure contains

over 40 condominiums

and townhouses.

Charrette Process

• Friday, November 19

– 8:00 Church Tour

– 9:00 to 12:00 Public

design sessions

– 12:00-1:00 Lunch

– 1:00 -7:00 Architects

design

• Saturday, November 20

– 8:00- 1:00 Architects

continue design work

– 1:00 Public presentation

of preliminary design

concepts

Location: Bottle Works, 411 Third Avenue

What’s Next

Thank You

• The Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown &

Resurrection parish

• Johnstown Area Heritage Association

• Save Our Steeples

• Johnstown Regional Partnership

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