March 2011

August 2003

March 2011. The cupola over the crossing has vanished, almost certainly stolen for its metal - along with every other copper detail on the roofline.

August 2003

March 2011 - the cornerstone continues to spall

October 2004

March 2011 - several new holes have appeared in the front rose window

August 2003

March 2011 - most of the iron straps on the doors have been stolen, and the stained glass has suffered additional damage.

August 2003

March 2007 - the lantern has been ripped part by copper thieves

March 2011 - the lantern is completely gone. Holes in the roof and tile damage may well have also been inflicted by scavenging metal thieves.

Bethlehem Lutheran
Architect: Louis Wessbecher, 1895

Vacant since the 1990s, this handsome brick Gothic church stood at the intersection of Salisbury and North Florrissant, two blocks west of Hyde Park. It had stood empty for over a decade when I first came across it; damage to its windows and roof was beginning to accelerate its decay. Much of the stained glass was already lost, and metal theft left holes in the roof.

The church's congregation vacated the building in 1995, following several lightning strikes and fires a few years earlier. Unable to afford the needed renovations on the building, they now meet in the smaller, more practical building next door.

On April 11, 2014, the sanctuary suffered a small roof collapse. Two days later, an entire wall of the sanctuary fell, taking a huge portion of the roof with it. Emergency demolition of the sanctuary followed a few days later.