Fort Worth to demolish this north side church despite community attempts to save it
The building that housed the Trinity Methodist Church at 1720 NW 25th St. is coming down.
A resident tried to make it into a venue for public art, but concerns about asbestos and a failure by the city to sell the property has led to its demolition.
Cassie Warren, who’s developing a coffee shop across the street from the building, said she’s disappointed more couldn’t be done to save it.
Warren said she petitioned the city to turn the building into a graffiti park, even going so far as to partner with artists.
However, the cost to get rid of the building’s asbestos was too high, so the city is demolishing the property in hopes of selling the land, City Council member Carlos Flores said.
It would have cost $315,000 to remove all the asbestos in order to preserve the building, according to an email from Jerre Tracy, executive director of the historic preservation nonprofit Historic Fort Worth.
The city took over the property in 2008 after it was taken from the previous owners for unpaid property taxes., said Steve Cooke, head of the city’s property management department.
The city set a minimum price of around $220,000 in order to cover the unpaid taxes.
“We’ve tried to sell it eight times since 2015, and no one wanted it,” said Steve Cooke, head of the city’s property management department.
The city got permission to lower the price to $120,000, and hopes once the building is knocked down, it will be able to sell the land, Cooke said.
Trinity Methodist moved to the site in 1939, but the current building was constructed sometime in the 1950s, said John Roberts with Historic Fort Worth.
After years of declining numbers, the congregation held its last service in the building in May 1996.
Roberts, who also works as an architect with the firm Halbach-Dietz, said the city will still have to pay to get rid of the asbestos.
The only difference is it takes a little more time to separate the asbestos from the parts of the building you’re trying to preserve versus just taking it all away, he said.
This story contains information from Star-Telegram archives.
This story was originally published September 30, 2022 at 4:14 PM.
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