Messiah Church”'s compelling interior Architectural Art by Architect
Harry Wild Jones
UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF THE MESSIAH PROPERTY, Nov. 30, 2017: When a property owner applies for a demolition permit, it is checked for inclusion on a list of buildings “of historic interest” and if on that list the Mpls. Heritage Preservation Commission is requested to decide pursuit any further. By unanimous vote, Messiah Church building was considered to merit preservation requirements by the Minneapolis Preservation Commission. Their opinion was forwarded to the Minneapolis City Council Zoning and Planning Committee. It was denied on a unanimous vote after 6th Ward Council Member Abdi Warsame”'s motion. This was most likely due to the idea of “Councilmember privilege” which means the other Councilmembers honor the position of the Councilmember in whose ward the property is located.
The decision is now up to the Messiah Congregation. Phillips Community worked tirelessly to negotiate with Children”'s MN over the years to establish covenants of understanding about land use issues and working to have Children”'s MN stay within a certain boundary of blocks so that residential and commercial could continue to respectfully coexist? Will Messiah do its part to respect and uphold those covenants of their neighbors and the history of the community that has helped to sustain them or will they succumb to only examining this issue from the perspective or what is good for them and their own gain? Years of time and energy and relationships were invested in establishing these covenants of understanding. Will the congregation of Messiah and Children”'s MN waste those investments of time, ignore the covenants that were put in place and do harm to the many trusting relationships that were established over the years? Will the Monopoly Game in Phillips continue? Or, will Messiah “take the high road” and convene conversations and strategies with community members at large whereby they might be able to sell the building to other congregations or to others for reuse? Will Messiah rise to the occasion or will Messiah be razed?
NOTE: Some of the articles below are Reprinted from The Alley Newspaper and are so labeled. Date references within the articles are the same as they previously appeared and have not been updated.
