The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is set to review a proposal that would permanently remove a 1931 Tiffany Studios stained-glass window from the individually landmarked St. Bartholomew's Church at 1227 Pacific Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, which owns the Romanesque Revival church, has filed an application seeking a certificate of appropriateness that would make permanent the early-2025 removal of the Peterson Memorial Window.
According to New York YIMBY, the LPC had already approved the window's temporary removal under permit PMW-25-01633, citing the building's deteriorated condition, repeated trespassing and vandalism, and imminent risk to the structure. The 12-panel monumental window was designed and fabricated by Tiffany Studios in 1931, as noted by the Historic Districts Council.
How the Window Came Down
The report from the same outlet indicates that J&R Lamb Studios crated the window's panels during the removal process, while the window's 1931 wood tracery was retained in place. The openings were reglazed with Bendheim EcoGlass Gothic textured glass, and the original panels now remain in a climate-controlled art-storage facility in Queens, per the same account.
Designed by architect George Poole Chappell, the church building was completed in 1886, with its chancel finished in 1890, according to the outlet's report. Chappell, who lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant, also designed his own residence and multiple Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne rowhouses in Crown Heights North, according to the Observer. The site's parish house was completed in 1921, per the Historic Districts Council, while the rectory dates to 1912, the YIMBY report notes.
Landmark Status and a Congregation's Move
The property was designated an individual New York City landmark on March 19, 1974, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, the article states. A 2021 conditions assessment identified structural stabilization and envelope repairs costing millions of dollars, and the buildings closed in September 2022 because of life-safety concerns, the report says.
The congregation relocated to the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew at Clinton and Atlantic Avenues, an individual New York City landmark designated in 1981 and built between 1888 and 1891 by architect John Welch, according to Wikipedia. The 1227 Pacific Street church is scheduled for deconsecration this fall, per the YIMBY report.
A Development Site Reshaped by Rezoning
The diocese is now marketing the property as 1227-1231 Pacific Street, a 30,781-square-foot block-through assemblage spanning three tax lots with frontage on both Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue, the report notes. Ariel Property Advisors is handling the marketing, and its August 2026 materials indicate that the 2025 Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan rezoning unlocked up to approximately 181,317 buildable square feet as-of-right across the assemblage. That rezoning, a 21-block plan covering Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, was approved by the New York City Council in May 2025 to allow higher-density mixed-use development, generating an estimated 4,600 new housing units, including 1,900 permanently affordable homes, according to the NYC Department of City Planning.
The two adjacent lots, 72 and 80, are not subject to landmark designations and include a building slated for demolition to make way for new construction, per Ariel Property Advisors' marketing materials. The full site measures 189.75 feet along Pacific Street and 119.67 feet along Atlantic Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues, the materials indicate.
The LPC application includes a residential test-fit study dated February 27, 2026, showing a proposed conversion of the church's 13,468-square-foot first floor and 13,707-square-foot basement into housing, according to the YIMBY report. The proposal would retain stained glass and tracery wherever feasible, the same account states.
Balancing Preservation and Redevelopment
The situation echoes a broader pattern in New York City, where developers seeking to alter landmarked sites can obtain special permits under Zoning Resolution Section 74-711 for modified bulk or use regulations, in exchange for establishing an LPC-approved continuing maintenance and restoration program for the historic structure, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle. The outlet also noted a nearby Clinton Hill air-rights project involving the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew.
The church sits within the Crown Heights North Historic District, which the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated in April 2007 to protect one of Brooklyn's richest concentrations of late 19th- and early 20th-century residential and institutional architecture, according to the Observer. That district encompasses 472 buildings across northern Crown Heights, underscoring the density of historic fabric surrounding the Pacific Street site as it moves through the city's review process.
