In 2023, Village Preservation called on the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to landmark the original Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 229 West 14th Street (Seventh/Eighth Avenues), which opened in 1902 as the city’s first Spanish-language church. Prior to our letter, the Archdiocese had issued a “decree of relegation” for the shuttered church, which meant they intended to sell it. In spite of this threat and the clear historic significance of the building (originally constructed ca. 1850 as two townhouses owned by the prominent Delmonico family), the LPC refused to landmark it, even though there are almost no sites among the nearly 40,000 landmarked properties in NYC that honor the history of Hispanic New Yorkers, who constitute nearly 30% of our city’s residents. Earlier this year, we called on new LPC Chair Lisa Kersavage and new Mayor Mamdani to reconsider their predecessor’s resistance to landmarking Our Lady of Guadalupe, among other sites. 

Now the threat to the church has become even more imminent, as Councilmember Carl Wilson reports the Archdiocese intends to move forward swiftly with the sale of the property. We joined him, State Senator Erik Bottcher, La Nacional Director Robert Sanfiz, and scores of supporters on Wednesday for a rally urging the Archdiocese to reconsider the sale of this property and calling on the Mayor and the LPC to finally move ahead with landmark designation of this endangered historic site. Watch video of VP Executive Director Andrew Berman speaking HERE. and read coverage HERE and the press release HERE.

TO HELP: