100-year-old church in Echo Park closed indefinitely in danger of collapse
Pastor Frank Wulf says the church has had to close its doors indefinitely due to structural damage to the roof.
ECHO PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Built in 1923, the Echo Park United Methodist Church on the corner of Alvarado and Reservoir Street has been home to the same congregation for the last 100 years. However, in the last few weeks Pastor Frank Wulf says the church has had to close its doors indefinitely due to structural damage to the roof.
"The atmospheric river revealed some problems to the under structure of the church and the tower," Wulf said. "Structural engineers have since told us that the dome on the top of the tower could collapse and set in motion a series of collapses that could go all the way basically to the basement of the church."
This impacts a whole community. About 100 people make up the congregation and Pastor Frank says they've been having Sunday service at various locations since the damage became evident at their home church, but the building is utilized for more than church services.
"The hardest part was not just talking to the church members," Wulf said. "It was really talking to all the various user groups. They're about 20 Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step groups that work here, all of them suddenly had to find another place to go. We even provide services for the unhoused now for years and years and years suddenly the house services have to go somewhere else."
Wulf says it's too soon to say what work needs to be done or even how much it's going to cost, but he says they're already preparing to begin fundraising.
"We're going to be working with some construction companies to try to figure out what exactly might be needed," Wulf said. "It could be something as radical as having to remove the tower itself. It could be something as simple, simple as taking the dome off and redoing the under structure underneath the dome and then putting the dome back on."
Pastor frank says a structural engineer will come out to the church to inspect and make recommendations on what are the most important and best next steps.
