Wall Street Church in Auburn demolished

This week PACNY’s five-county region lost another historic structure. The African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wall Street in Auburn, NY – known informally as the Wall Street Church – finally came down after years of uncertainty. As part of PACNY’s “Eight That Can’t Wait” threatened properties list in 2018, the Wall Street Church symbolized the plight of urban neighborhood churches across PACNY’s five-county region:

“Central New York’s historic places of worship in urban neighborhoods face acute threats not only due to high costs of building repair and maintenance, but also because they are more apt for consolidation with other nearby congregations and may be in neighborhoods facing high levels of poverty and population decline. Once closed, there are often substantial challenges in finding new, economically viable uses that can sustain architecturally intricate buildings with large auditoriums.”

A description from 2018 described the significance to a local community of color, and eluded to the potential for reuse:

“Located across the street from the walls of the Auburn state prison, the former Wall Street Methodist is a National Register-listed Gothic Revival-style auditorium-plan brick church built in 1887. The building is also notable for its 19^th century biracial congregation that counted Harriet Tubman’s nephew among its members. The church became home to Auburn’s A.M.E. Zion Church in 1993, but the congregation was unable to afford major roof repairs, and vacated the building in the early 2000s. The building has since stood vacant, and its brick walls are crumbling. The building has recently changed ownership to a private individual who has not publicized plans for the property. Challenges for preservation and adaptive reuse include significant structural deterioration, the church’s location in a marginal neighborhood remote from downtown or other commercial areas, and its lack of local designation under Auburn’s preservation ordinance. Despite this, the building’s listing in the National Register makes it eligible for lucrative tax credits, and its spacious auditorium plan would make an ideal space for a community center, performance space, or a support facility for the state prison.”

Despite losses such as the Wall Street Church, PACNY continues to monitor the status of threatened properties across Central New York, and will work with any municipality, organization, or individual to conserve the unique cultural and architectural heritage of our region.