News from the site of the destruction of Miami's St. Stephen's Historic 1912 Church Building and Cloisters. This morning at 7AM, a handful of activists watched the destruction of St. Stephen's Church. An observer requesting anonymity said, "The way they (The Related Companies) came in has all the earmarks of a mean developer. They didn't do any of the green reclamation they said they were going to do. They came in with heavy equipment and got out before anyone could stop them."Miami historian and preservationist Arva Moore Parks said:
"We had a meeting scheduled for last Thursday with the builders (that never happened). On Saturday, after hours, they started demolition. We were able to halt the demolition. Yesterday (Sunday) at 5:45 PM we finally had our meeting. We asked for a week to sit with the architects. We pleaded with them not to damage the church. Last night at 11PM, they said no deal. This morning at 7 AM they brought in sledge hammers to make sure there would be no chance for us to intervene. It took them fifteen minutes to knock down the 1912 cross at the top of the church. Then the historic bell came down. They destroyed all the good features of the facade. While it is true they notified neighbors and complied with city permit requirements, I've reviewed what was published and it is deeply disturbing. They never specifically said that they were going to destroy this landmark church where so much of Miami's history gathered to worship. I've been in this business for 40 years. I've never seen anything like this. I'm very sad."
22 comments:
From: "An Outline of History" St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Coconut Grove, FL by Helen Muir
"... The modern edifice of today is a memorial to the labors of an army of individuals only a fw of whom can be mentioned in this brief record. They are all a part of the church which was born in the southern wilderness, grew into a village church...
In the winter of 1906 there was no church but three people met in a tent for Morning Prayer... the tent utilized by this trio for Sunday church service was part of Camp Biscayne which was started by Ralph Monroe on land oppoiste the present site of the Coconut Grove Playhouse...
No energies were spared in raising money. The women made pot holders and dressed dolls, baked pies and cakes. They were indefatiguable and they had one burning ambition: to build a church. Their efforts were rewarded. On May 9 1012 the Miami Metropolis carried the glad news."
Christmas Day 1912 was a joyous one. The Metropolis reported that the building was of 'Spanish Mission architecture'. It had a red tile roof and a bell, both of which pleased the parishioners. The newspaper account said: 'The pretty little building was transformed into a bower of flowers and Yuletide greens. Christmas music and the beautiful service that marks the day in the Episcopal Church were greatly enjoyed by the worshippers. On the following evening a Christmas tree for the children made another happy occasion."
Shame on the people who destroyed this church today! Let's hope the spirits of all the people who worshipped and prayed and contributed to this piece of Miami history are attentive and watchful.
What a horrible assault on the trusting people of the community who expected dialogue and got bulldozers instead. And this from the administration of a church? GOD help us all.
The church and the developers have the same God--Greed.
If someone could send us the electronic version of the information re public disclosure that was mailed to neighbors and given to the city of Miami on this event, we would be most appreciative.
Pre-schools are big business these days and government subsidized. The irony is that these people pretend to provide a good christian education. I'm not a christian, but I do believe that Jesus would not approve.
The good thing about Christianity is that if you pray for forgivness, God will forgive. I don't think the Grove will, though. They're gonna have to pray really hard for that one.
Maybe Related just wanted retribution against the community for opposing the pie-in-the-sky condos at Mercy Hospital so they tore a church down?
Once again, we succumb to media reports...doesn't anyone look for complete facts anymore? I walk by that site everyday and know it has not been a "church" for more than like 40 years, any more than Senor Frogs across the street is. They were offices or classrooms and one dilapitated thrift shop with little to no architectural interest whatsoever. As a community member I heard all about the new "green" energy conserving structure they're building amongst the oak trees and am happy to see this site is actually progressing for more advanced and efficient use.
There is a real estate agent in South Dade who has been tearing down historical buildings for a long time. If he had a property listed and there was an application to declare it an historical structure, he would swoop in and demolish it before the Historical Trust could deem it historical. He has been known to ride the doozer himself. Historical designations lower the value of the property because it restricts what can be done with it. It's all about greed, the hell with heritage.
I think sometimes we confuse "old" for "historic". There are at least half a dozen or more churches in Miami that are designated historical structures as determined by much scrutininzed criteria and a multitude of well thought out factors. This building was not one of those. If so, I would think the Church people themselves and this community would have sought it, but it was de-consecrated decades ago, and anyone seeing it now in 2009 would know that vs looking at pics from 1912. Think about how different we would feel about every bit of structure in our town if we held to pics of years past as the way everything would and should remain? As a community member, I know this was a thoroughly vetted and researched effort, communicated with all, and it's sadly being portrayed as if a wrecking ball is on haphazard loose in the Grove. Sad this is being positioned as evil developers when in fact it's very good church-going hard working members of our Grove community that did all the right things that are now having one sliver sensationalized erroneously.
Having a building declared a historical structure is a two edged sword, it can bankrupt you and leave the building in ruin. I have a neighbor who was a partner in the Andersons corner restaurant after hurricane Andrew. The county wanted it upgraded to current code and the historical control people would not let the changes be made. Now the building sits in ruin for 17 years. With that kind of regulation I can understand how an owner would rush to “get rid” of a building before it could be declared a historical structure. Rules should encourage preservation, not force destruction.
Guess George Hernandez was just upset he wasn't hired as Architect this time around since he was the architect for one of the church's other buildings. Get the facts, people. One sided stories aren't kosher. It wasn't a historic building, it wasn't even a church, it hasn't been one since the 1950's. The plans were approved by the parish, the school, blessed by the Bishop and they have all the necessary permits ... it's been in the works for two years. They own the property ... it's none of your business.
For those of you are not born and raised in Miami, every time a "old" building goes, so does a part of Miami's history that you missed learning about. If you ever worshiped there, in that building in Coconut Grove, it was a church to you. By the way, a church is not a building, it is the people inside that create a church.
I find it offensive and evil that the developer would destroy the cross and bell, that is disrespectful of all faiths. Shame on the developer. However, the church should have grabbed those items and put them away for safe keeping way before the discussion got to this point.
Do you remember the United Methodist Church on Old Highway? It is now a Synagogue. How neat is that? That building housed many happy and sad moments in Miami's history, and still lives on the celebrate life in another way.
For those of you who remember the First Baptist Church of Homestead on Krome ave. It was spared (to this point) being torn down. It turned out to be a wonderful community meeting center and surprisingly, having very good acoustics, which many NEW buildings don't have.
Church Buildings were central to life in early Miami and even are today in many communities in our county. Those buildings are worth acknowledging and saving. Whether they are downtown or out in what used to be in the sticks. They are the heart of pioneer souls.
By saving the Sears Tower, they saved history of a great design period and actually, a reminder of WW2 in Miami. And that was a fight that was all but lost.
How sad is a community that can not revere the past. Without a past to build upon, we have no heritage to give a benchmark for the future.
I suppose that many old buildings and old Florida Style homes could be considered green. They did not have air conditioning and took advantage by design of the natural breezes. Green is not new. It certainly is not a reason to destroy one's heritage for.
PS: History does not start when you moved into town. History started without you, just so you know.
Looks like St. Stephens brass have found the blog.
After reading today/s Herald article about this, I am dismayed to find that the church members and their leaders gave into their own version of greed. There was a way to work it out for a win-win. For the most part, I get the impression that the bride was pregnant and the marriage was rushed to prevent any change of heart on the marriage proposal.
That, back in the day, there were a fair number of racist, anti-semites, anti-hispanics among the congregation gives no reason to tear down the church. Even empty, it was a better reminder of what Miami stood for, than torn down.
Nothing they build now will have authenticity or character of that demolished building. The replacement building will be trite and derivative. No doubt, it will resemble a Florida McMansion or one of the county's cube-ish public schools.
The congregation's elders were probably dying to make something "in their image". Something that would aggrandize themselves and not the history of the congregation as a whole.
Pride goes before a fall.
The hundreds of donors listed in the ground breaking program were lead by the architect and church officals to believe that the front part of the chapel was being preserved and restored.
They even misled Dr. Paul George when they gave him a picture of the new project that shows the chapel preserved to publish in his new book "Little School by the Bay."
If the donors have any integrity at all they will pull thier money out and put it in a special fund to rebuild the chapel.
Then, the church needs to find a new pastor and the school needs to find a new director. And they definitely need a new architect.
This is the ONLY way that the church can redeem itself.
integrity? What's that?
It's terrible that people love buildings more than people. Some structures are worth saving...some aren't. So sorry that the preservationists aren't tackling the law isues instead of making a terrible attack on very positive Grove neighbors.
"This is the ONLY way that the church can redeem itself."
Who died and made you the arbiter of how churches can redeem themselves? If any church deserves to be "redeemed" than it is St. Stephen's. You are so worried about a moldy decrepit building, yet you speak nothing of the thousands of lives they have touched through their model AIDS ministry and other outreach programs. Go see what they really do for the community before you sit in judgment from home in your underwear.
Some of you church people are being ridiculous.
Besides, we wear pajamas as we criticize not underwear.
I have been attending Saint Stephen's for a year now and I have been asking questions. Meyer stopped working on the project last summer at which time she began informing members of the preservation community of the churches intention to demolish the chapel. The church and the architect, Jennifer Briley told everyone in the community, including Meyer, that demolition would not occur until summer, after school was out, leaving preservationists to believe there was still plenty of time for a civil discussion.
Pastor Willie Allen-Faiella agreed to hold off on demolition until a meeting with preservationist could occur. Then she turned around and moved the demolition date up and called in the demo crew last Saturday evening as Architect Jennifer Briley removed the planned "LEED Green Deconstruction" of the chapel from the LEED "Gold Certification" checklist. A LEED deconstruction would have taken two weeks, plenty of time for preservationist to seek an injunction to halt demolition.
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