ALBRIGHT CHURCH: Future of century-old church unknown after court strips historic designation

PITTSBURGH — A century-old church in Bloomfield is expected to be stripped of its historic designation.

Several community members and leaders fought for the Albright Community United Methodist Church to receive historic designation a few years back, but the court ruled Monday in favor of removing it from the list.

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The old vacant church on South Graham Street in Bloomfield is owned by the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Channel 11 learned organization never wanted the building to receive the historic designation.

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The city gave the church the designation and the Commonwealth Court sided with the Common Pleas Court, ruling the designation was against city code.

The ruling was a big disappointment to one of the activists who nominated the church for the historic label with the hopes of protecting it.

“The historic designation would prevent anyone from tearing down the building but I also think that there are ways that we can repurpose and reuse the buildings that can serve a commercial need I think it would be wonderful if we could put a coffee shop in the building and use the building to serve the community,” Friends of Albright founder Lindsay Patross said.

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Cox Media Group