FXCollaborative has designed a church community space and 33 story tower overlooking Central Park in New York City. The project was made for Harlem’s La Hermosa Christian Church, though no developer has signed on for the project yet. The new project would serve the surrounding community and aims to embody and celebrate the neighborhood’s legacy of music and art.
La Hermosa is currently located at 5 West 110th Street, and has served the Harlem community since it was founded in 1938. Leaders of the congregation say the current building has deteriorated and is not ADA-accessible. La Hermosa submitted an application to the New York City Planning Commission asking to rezone part of Central Park North for the tower and community center project that will incorporate a music school and cultural center. The community space would be run by the church and offer 38,000 square feet of amenity space.
The project would include approximately 160 residential units in total, 50 of which will be affordable, with 50 percent preference given to residents of the area. The building includes an accessible space for the church with a screened glass facade, an atrium for art exhibits and performances, practice rooms, classrooms, and a black-box theater. The church will partner with Manhattan School of Music to offer free classes to children in the area. La Hermosa pastor Dan Feliciano said “We are honored to be able to grow our impact in our next chapter by partnering with an iconic music school like MSM to provide free music and arts education for Harlem kids.”
News via Curbed New York