East Village Fights to Save Most Holy Reedemer Church

Worried preservationists are continuing to press for landmark status for Most Holy Redeemer Church on East Third Street in the East Village even as the financially pressed New York Archdiocese appears to be accelerating the sell-off of Church properties across Manhattan.

Though the archdiocese stopped holding regular masses there over Labor Day weekend, parishioners and allies rallied there in early December urging landmark status for the sanctuary, which was called “the largest and most beautiful [church] in the city” shortly after a new sanctuary building was dedicated in 1852.

”The church is not for sale,” archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling told Our Town Downtown. He said the church was shut because of structural damage to the building, but the hope was to open the church for special occasions in the future.

Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation which is one of the groups pushing for landmark status remains skeptical about the Archdiocese’s denial of a sale.

“It’s a bit disingenuous,” said Berman. “We all know it’s not currently for sale. They can’t currently sell it without going through a lot of internal processes which haven’t begun yet. But closing the church to regular services is almost always a precursor to permanently closing the church, which is then followed by a sale.”

The frantic efforts to save Most Holy Redeemer comes against a spate of sell-offs of properties owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of New York as it seeks to finance a $300-million fund to satisfy past victims of sexual abuse at the hands of clergy.

On Dec. 8, local parishioners were joined by Village Preservation, East Village Community Coalition, the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, and newly elected City Council Member Harvey Epstein, voicing fears that the historic church will eventually meet the wrecking ball.

Archdiocesan Sell-offs

The sell-off of Catholic church properties has accelerated dramatically over the past two years, particularly in Manhattan, where many of the shut-down schools and churches were based.

The St. Columba campus on West 25th St. which once housed a Catholic school, rectory, convent, and church, was sold in January 2025 to Timber Equities. Timber recently filed plans to demolish the structures between Eighth and Ninth avenues and erect two 14-story luxury apartment buildings,.

Elsewhere, the developer Avenu paid $11.8 million for the former St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church at 213 E. 83rd St. Their plan is to demolish the church and build a seven-story, eight-unit luxury apartment complex on the site. The church at one point held a weekly Sunday Mass for deaf parishioners.

In 2024, the former St. Emeric parish at 181 Ave. D. was sold for $68 million to a developer who pledged to erect 500 units of affordable housing on the site. The purchaser is a joint venture co-managed by nonprofit developer Community Access and affordable housing developer Spatial Equity as well as Duvernay + Brooks and Cooper Square Committee.

On the Upper West Side, the Rockefeller Group, a philanthropic organization, filed plans on Dec. 19 with the Department of Buildings to demolish the former Holy Name of Jesus School at 200 W. 97th St. No building plans have yet been filed. Like many of the recently sold buildings, it had been closed for at least a decade.

The Archdiocese sold its own headquartetrs on First Avenue and 56th Street for $103 million earlier this year. The biggest recent sale was the church-owned land beneath the Lotte New York Palace Hotel, to the Korean conglomerate that owns the hotel for $490 million.

The Most Holy Redeemer was once a thriving parish in the mid-19th century. Known as the German Cathedral, it served a then booming population known as Little Germany or Kleindeutschland.

As with many inner-city parishes, however, Holy Redeemer has seen its parish population drastically decline. At the start, it was administered by the Redemptorists Order, a German missionary order of priests and brothers. In recent years the once-thriving order was faced with financial problems and the declining number of priests that have plagued many religious orders. The Redemptorists withdrew in 2015 and turned the church and rectory over to the archdiocese.

Most Holy Redeemer’s fortunes seemed to change rapidly when its affable pastor, Sean Costello, was transferred to St. Margaret’s in Riverdale. Further, Most Holy Redeemer lost its status as the overseer parish of nearby St. Brigid’s, built in the mid-19th century by Irish escaping the Great Famine. Both were recently. assigned to be administered by another parish, Immaculate Conception on E. 14th St. near First Ave., overseen by Msg. Kevin Neelan.

Ancient Bones

The Redemptorists may be gone, but their spirits live on. The church website says the good fathers left behind the mortal remains of 85 priests, buried in a crypt below the church. So are the bones of the Italian Saint Datian, which are tucked away in small wooden box within the altar. It’s been said these bones engendered a number of miracle cures over the years.

Whether Saint Datian’s remains have the power to save Most Holy Redeemer remains to be seen. The Landmarks Preservation Commission was urged to consider landmarking the church in December 2024. But the investigation moves slowly.

Two months later, in February 2025, Margaret Herman, the LPC director of research, wrote to Village Preservation: “The agency carefully considered the information you submitted and has determined that the church building may merit consideration for designation.” But there’s been no further word from LPC since then.

Prervationists and local parishioners have not given up hope of a Christmas miracle. ”I am somewhat hopeful that we might see them move ahead on this one,” Berman told Our Town Downtown recently. “The question is, Will they ask before it’s too late?”