The graceful 90-foot white steeple soaring to the heavens likely will be earthbound in the coming year at the First Church of Christ, Scientist in La Grange, which closed a year ago.
Agreement has been reached to sell the property at 100 S. Catherine Ave. to Greyson Custom Builders in La Grange for potential construction of three luxury homes, according to village documents.
“It was a painful decision, but the handwriting was on the wall when you have only a handful of people come to church every Sunday and even fewer for the Wednesday service,” said Jaclyn Doty, chairperson of the congregation.
Doty, who lives in Burr Ridge, said membership had dwindled to nine people, who agreed to close the church Aug. 24, 2014.
“A few people moved away last year,” she said. “There were fewer and fewer people to take the positions that needed to be filled. It was inevitable, but hard. Nobody wants to close a church.”
Members would have liked to sell the building to another congregation, but too many repairs were needed, Doty said. It also would be difficult for a larger religious group to meet village parking requirements of about one space per member, she said. The existing lot has 10 to 15 spaces, she said.
“The foundation was crumbling, and it needs a lot of work, unfortunately,” she said. “But people who have been inside say, ‘Oh, my God, what a beautiful church.'”
The group is seeking to find good homes for church hymnals, books and furniture, including a piano and an organ, Doty said.
“We have a church to clean out,” she said. “It’s like a home. The more years you live there, the more stuff you have to get rid of.”
The church was completed in 1908 as a red brick structure with white pillars at a cost of $32,000, according to the congregation’s history compiled in 1973. Members began meeting in 1896 and then raised funds to build the church, which seated 450.
Members also operated a Christian Science Reading Room on La Grange Road, at the church and, after 1952, on Calendar Avenue.
The congregation launched a remodeling campaign in 1966 for $340,000, which included painting the exterior white to complement the new 90-foot steeple. The reconfigured interior reduced seating to 275.
Doty said she is uncertain what was the height of the church’s membership or why it declined.
“A Self-Understanding of Christian Science” from February 2013 on the First Church of Christ, Scientist website notes the number of church members and public practitioners of healing peaked in the 1950s. Phone calls requesting information from the denomination’s headquarters in Boston weren’t returned.
Doty, who was raised in the Christian Science tradition, said church teachings have always been important to her, including the Bible and writings of founder Mary Baker Eddy in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.”
“I’ve been a Christian Scientist all my life, first at the Hinsdale church after moving here from Milwaukee,” she recalled. “In 2008, I became a member of the La Grange church. I was singing there and was there all the time.”
Doty said she and four other La Grange members continue to worship together when their schedules permit at Christian Science churches in Hinsdale, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Lombard and Palos Park.
The Village Board cleared the way for the sale Sept. 14 by approving a zoning variance to allow lots 124.5 feet deep, instead of the required 125 feet. Two lots will be 53 feet wide and the corner lot will be 59 feet wide.
According to the terms of the agreement with the church, Joseph Greybar said he will receive his choice of one of the three lots in exchange for demolition of the building, a cash payment and undertaking the necessary legal steps to subdivide the property.
Which lot is developed first depends on the home buyer, he said. Greybar has an option to buy the other two lots, but if another developer comes forward instead, that purchaser must use his firm, Greyson Custom Builders, to construct the homes, he said.
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Homes proposed for each lot would cost $900,000 to $1 million with 2,800 square feet, a detached two-car garage and a front porch in keeping with the neighborhood, Greybar said. He estimates the cost of each lot at $350,000.
Other features of the custom homes include 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, a commercial appliance package for a kitchen with white cabinets, granite countertops and custom moldings, he said.
“Right now building is on the upswing. I don’t sense a recession,” he said. “There is no better vacant real estate in La Grange now.”
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