Advocacy Update:Elijah Missionary Baptist Church

A space heater and lack of insurance has caused the South End to lose a venerable part of its community.  Located at 74 Second Avenue, and formerly known as Our Lady Help of Christians, the structure, built in 1880 as a German Catholic church, was an integral part of the South End community for generations.  Most recently, under Rev. Comithier the congregation was known as the Elijah Missionary Baptist Church.

On Friday morning, HAF as well as the rest of the community, awoke to the news of the devastating overnight fire, and hoped that the damages were not fatal to the survival of the building.  According to Mayor Kathy Sheehan, "After thorough inspection of the Elijah Missionary Baptist Church by our buildings professionals and consideration of any potential stabilization efforts, we have determined in the interest of public safety the remaining portion of the church must be removed due to the damage sustained by the recent fire. The investigation has determined the fire was caused by a space heater on the second floor of the church. Despite this unfortunate outcome we greatly appreciate Historic Albany's continued partnership in furtherance of our historic preservation efforts."

The city of Albany’s engineer was on the scene on Friday morning, as well as local developers, to determine if the building could be retrofitted for another use if the side walls and front could be saved.  However, HAF learned this week that the fire went up the front tower which acted like a chimney.  This in turn weakened the structure to the point that it was deemed too unsafe and unstable to put workers inside and in harm’s way.  The tower was still smoldering on Wednesday afternoon this week when we visited the property.

For more information on the history of this beautiful building, it’s congregations and the neighborhood, please go to:  https://findingyourpast.blogspot.com/2015/03/our-lady-help-of-christians-church.html