☞ REVIVE: The Baptist Temple Church on 116th

There seems to finally be some good news for the Baptist Temple Church at 18 West 116th Street.  We walked by last week and noticed some scaffolding up on the front facade and were initially fearful that the activity would portend the building's demise.  As folks might remember, the former synagogue-turned-church had some structural issue over a year ago and the roof had an emergency demolition: LINK.  There's a sign below the sidewalk shed asking for donations and we found the following details on DOB permit approved this past October:

REPAIR OF MAIN ROOF AT FRONT OF CHURCH BUILDING. REPAIR OF LOWER PORTION OF FRONT FACADE AND REPLACEMENT OF UPPER PORTION. SEALING AND REPAIR OF STRUCTURAL CRACKS ON EAST AND WEST BEARING WALLS AND REHABILITATION OF MASONRY STAIRWELL BEARING WALLS AT FRONT FACADE.

It looks like the church might have some of the initial funds to get the work started but an accurate restoration of this historic building just east of 5th Avenue will probably run much higher than initial estimates.  We wish the best of luck to the congregation since they did not try to sell out on the old building!