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HISTORIC IMAGE: An early undated photograph of the Mission -style St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, which opened in 1912.
Wrecking St. Stephen's was a sin
BY BETH DUNLOP
bdunl"'faMismlHerald.com
A week ago, I thought this column would be an
eloquent plea for saving Miami's oldest house of
worship. Instead, I'm writing an obituary for the
historic SL Stephen's Church, just shy of a century
old at the time of its wanton demolition. I thought
the Bible said, "Remove not the ancient landmark,
which your fathers have set," and not "down with
the old and up with the new," but I most be reading
a different testament.
The church had deep root.: among its members
were the Maureen, the Matheson and the McFar-
lanes — names that form a comerstone of Coconut
Grove history. St. Stephen's opened in 1912 as a
simple, little Mission -style chapel, but a few years
later, the colonnade wac added, giving the church a
more imposing presence. The building was
"deconsecrated" in 195E when a new sanctuary was
built, and over the years a few unfortunate cos-
metic alterations were made — but nothing perms
nent.
Some time back, Jennifer Briley, a parishioner
whose background is in modern design, was
selected to develop a plan for new classrooms and
offices for St. Stephen's Episcopal Day School and
for what the church called a "new, green ando-story LEED-registered" twcommercial building
along Main Highway. Briley is an architect who
shows promise as a modernist but who has already
gained a less -than -stellar reputation in the world of
preservation for her role in the demolition of
another, albeit entirely different landmark — the
swooping, parabolic Americana Motor Inn in Fort
Lauderdale.
RENOVATION PLAN
The original plan called for renovating a portion
of the old church and keeping the loggia. Late in
the game, plans changed: The commercial space
grew and the historic building was eliminated. But
the drawings didn't change, which lulled many into
thinking that at least part of the church building
was safe. The fundraising brochure stated point-
blank: "To preserve our rich heritage, great efforts
have been made in the design to incorporate the
historic bell tower and the facade of the original
building."
The required legal notification to neighbors was
vague enough that many didn't know the historic
church was coming down. St. Stephen's application
to the city stated that the project would include "an
entry building incorporating elements of the origi-
nal front facade of the Mission Style Chapel that
occupied the site in the early part of the 1900s; cur-
rently very few of the original details remain" —
when in fact, the original structure was all but
intact. (And one wonders: Where was the city
Planning department in all this? Didn't anyone take
a look?)
It was not until another parishioner, architec-
tural designer Melissa Meyer, called attention to
the. demolition — she had worked on the project
for several years but stepped down when it became
clear that the church was to be destroyed — that
the preservation community sprang into action.
Here's where the story becomes really sad.
Almost immediately, meetings were scheduled by
some of Miami's leading preservationists — among
them Arva Moore Parks, Dolly McIntyre and David
Doheney — to talk with St. Stephen's officials. The
group gained a promise that no demolition would
occur until all sides could meet. Preservationists
left their meeting believing they had a week to seek
alternatives. Two days later, a construction fence
went up.
Then came workmen wielding sledgehammers,
destroying the most irreplaceable historic ele-
ments. The bulldozing began in earnest Monday
and, by the time it was over, almost nothing was
saved for history or for reuse — not the concrete
cast columns, Ludowici We, cypress brackets, the
original tongue -tit -groove ceiling. Most of the irre-
placeable Dade County pine roof beams and
PHOM to PATIHIH FARRPn / alA.1 HPRas SUFF
NOW AND THEN: Above, major demolition began last Monday on Miami's
oldest church. Below, the church as it looked in 1918, with an added
colonnade.
trusses were slashed to bits, though Briley was able
to extract four trusses and continues to search for
other reusable timber. The bell, cross, plaques and
cornerstone were also saved, along with three col
urns from a liter addition to the building.
I have trouble with all of this demolition —
architecturally, philosophically, theologically, envi-
ronmentally, historically. I've heard St. Stephen's'
side of the story, and I'm not persuaded. In 30 years
of writing about historic preservation here (and a
decade of writing about houses of worship .all
across America for House & Garden magazine), I've
never seen such blatant disregard for civic dis.
course. I've seen some developers demolish precip.
Acusly, even illegally, out of attger or in are aswrtior
of private property rights, But this is a chni and
school, where the basic lessons of life — and let',
start with the Golden Rule — ought to be at th,
forefront.
It's doubtful that this plan was the only possible
one Did a new building (which will be subject tc
taxes, one presumes, in that it is commercial space;
have to go in the place of a powerful marker of his
tory? One wonders if, restored to its original beauty
that chapel might not have yielded the church fa,
more income from weddings.
Philosophically, I look to the example that i,
being net, in the community, iwthe parish, in th;
school. I weep most for the children who now know
that bullies win, that you should hit first and noitp
to "use your words." That's not how I would W,.nl
my children — or any children — to be educated
but it's the message that St. Stephen's has pre
rented: Do what you want and don't listen to others
True, the letter of the law was met, but bar 1,. b
there no longer any role for civil discussion in an,
society?
St. Stephen's rector, the Rev. Wilifred Allen
Faieila, sent an after -the -tact e-missive to her con
gregation in which she invokes a passage in th,
New Testament (John 2:19) that says "Destroy thh
temple and I will raise it up," adding that her ma ,
date is to serve the living. I am no theologian, but
have a problem of coolant here. This particuht
chapter of John tells the famous story of Jesus' cast
big of merchants and moneylenders out of the tam
ple, saying, "Do not make my Father's house into
house of merchandise." This makes me word,
about using the verse to explain away the decisio,
to tear dawn a house of worship for a retail build
ing.
NOT VERY GREEN
The pile of rubble that once was historic St. Ste
Phan 's makes a total mockery out of the state,
intent of making the new building "green" as th,
first step was nothing but waste — waste,
resoures, wasted materials and debris that wil
now go to a landfill and further despoil the environ
meat The intent of building green is,
do so Iron
start to finish. The greenest of all architectura
practices is reusing historic structures. It's hard h
deny that schools should have good facilitie
(though I sent my son to a historic, landmarked ele
mentery school in which only half the classroom
were air-conditioned, and he managed to survive i
well enough to graduate with honors from Yale).
But this was never an either-or proposition. St
Stephen's set up a series of false choices — childret
or buildings, past or present, religious mandate vs.
secular world — that were all predicated on a ram
Ford disregard for history, even a hatred of it.
Not far down Main Highway are two stella
examples of the alternative. Two pioneer building
— the Pagoda and the "Band Cottage" — sit baudi
fully restored on the campus of Ransom Everglade
School. Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart he
done a masterful job of saving its architectural cer
uv piece, the exquisite El Jardin. On those cam
poses, it's clear that who we are has deep roots i
the past, that we are here because of those wh
me before us, and that it is worth honoring thei
legacy. In the end, historic preservation is abbe
, cspocf.
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