Some believe churches are worth saving

The News Tribune editorial said no recent story had created so much interest as this one.

“When it was announced that this church had been sold to a wrecking company and would be torn down, a number of prominent Tacomans publicly voiced their disapproval and asked the community to take steps to save the famous landmark,” it said.

As familiar as it sounds, it wasn’t written last year. It was written in January 1933 and noted the unhappiness among the locals that St. Luke’s church was threatened.

Times were hard for the Episcopal church, located at Sixth and Broadway. The congregation had merged with another and had abandoned the English country-style church. It had been left open to the elements and to vandals, and both had taken full advantage.

In return for the Wilkeson sandstone blocks, a contractor had agreed to tear it down.

St. Luke’s had been built 51 years earlier with the help and money of people whose names remain familiar – Charles Wright, Annie Wright, Bishop John Paddock, his wife and Tacoma General hospital founder Fannie Paddock, as well as Isabel Wilkeson.

And when word got around (which didn’t take long back then) that the church would be demolished, people got angry. Wilkeson, whose husband founded the quarry that supplied the sandstone, filed suit. Others began planning to save the building.

Remember, this was 1933, decades before there was any preservation ethic in America. Cities like Tacoma were still being built and hardly had time to worry about old stuff. And the Great Depression made it even more difficult to find money to save St. Luke’s.

But because the building had special meaning for so many, the church and the community found a way. Over the next 10 years the building was taken apart and moved – literally stone by stone – and rebuilt on a site in the North End.

Last month the clergy and lay leaders of St. Luke’s Memorial sat before the city’s Landmarks Preservation Board asking that the now-125-year- old church be added to Tacoma’s landmarks roster. That would make it more difficult for a future congregation to tear down the church.

While it seems logical that such a place be listed among the city’s landmarks, it’s actually unusual. Only four churches are now protected. (Another – the 99-year-old craftsman-style Center for Spiritual Living at North Second and J streets – also is before the landmarks board).

Why so few? While there is an honor in being listed, there is also a burden. Once listed, decisions about external alterations or demolition are turned over to the landmarks board. For buildings that are on the tax rolls, there are tax advantages. For non-profits like churches, there are none.

No surprise then that many church communities don’t want to be listed and why the group Historic Tacoma has been working with congregations to explain the benefits and to help them plan for repairs and restoration. It also is doing an inventory of the city’s sacred places, work that might help others prepare their own nominations

The stewards of St. Luke’s, at North 36th and Gove, as well as the bishop of the diocese are eager to have it on the historic register. Like those in Seattle who decided to raise and spend $5 million to restore Trinity Parish Episcopal after the 2001 earthquake, they see their building as an integral part of their ministry.

“You’d have to walk in and feel the sense inside the church,” said senior warden Chuck Johnston. “It’s just a beautiful, beautiful place, and the congregation wanted it preserved for generations to come.”

Said Historic Tacoma board President Sharon Winters: “It’s a way to send a message that the buildings are important to the community and that you can’t separate the building from the mission.”

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

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