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Clergy, Preservationists at Odds Over Landmarking Russian Orthodox Church in East Village

The Russian Orthodox Cathedral on East Second Street in the East Village.
The Russian Orthodox Cathedral on East Second Street in the East Village.
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Barry Munger

By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

EAST VILLAGE — Clergy at a historic church on East Second Street believe that paranoid preservationists are targeting their cathedral for landmarking over unfounded fears that the parish wants to further develop the nearly 150-year-old structure.

The Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection, a gothic-style structure built in 1867, was recommended for landmarking by a host of preservation groups despite opposition from the church’s staff and congregants at a March public hearing.

On Thursday, members of the church squared off with preservationists at a Community Board 3 meeting, with both sides arguing that their intentions are to preserve the church as it is.

Parishioners believe landmarking the cathedral between First and Second avenues will push the church into the red by forcing it to pay for additional maintenance and upkeep of the building as required by the landmark designation.

The church’s archdeacon even charged preservationists with stoking suspicions that the parish attempted to subvert the landmarking process last year by trying build on the property prior to the possible designation.

“In 2009 we had to put in a new boiler, and [preservationists] said we were sneaking in to develop the church,” said Father Michael Suvak prior to the meeting. “Most of these people have never been in the church.”

Congregants said Thursday they have had no trouble maintaining the building through the years, and that landmark backers are just butting in by pressing for the designation.

“Landmarking would be a burden,” said parish member Richard Wright. “This isn’t a game. This isn’t something to add to your collection.”

The Historic Districts Council, Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, East Village Community Coalition, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and local Councilwoman Rosie Mendez all voiced support the designation.

“It’s probably inevitable, but personally I just feel that there’s a lot of misinformation going around,” said Suvak, who’s been with the parish since 1985.

In years past, development rumors had swirled because of an old plan to build on the church's property with the site’s unused air rights. But Suvak explained that a sweeping rezoning of the East Village in 2008 rendered that option moot, and there have been no plans to build since.

Now, Suvak worries that the Landmark Preservation Commission’s strict guidelines for maintaining or adding new features to a designated structure will prevent the church from easily — and affordably — renovating the property.

“I was talking to a contractor on the block, and he said he’d never work with a landmarked building,” Suvak said, noting that the LPC’s approval process for building modifications often drags out or proves too costly because of the materials required by the commission.

“I’m afraid that’s it’s going to be more of a burden on us than anything else."

A spokeswoman for the LPC said that the cathedral has not yet been scheduled for a vote by the commission.

But if the designation were to be handed down, funding sources like grants for future renovations do exist for religious institutions, said LPC spokeswoman Lisi de Bourbon.

“I know that there are plenty of houses of worship that have taken of advantage of the funding that’s available,” she said, citing the New York Landmark Conservancy’s “Sacred Sites” program as one such option.

Suvak countered that grants can often take years to receive, and that the cost of renovations oftentimes shoots up during the time spent waiting for the funding to arrive.

Parishioners saw themselves as better off on their own.

“We’ve existed all these years,” said one church member, “why don’t you just leave us alone?”