May 31, 2019 HISTORIC BOSTON TO CELEBRATE ST. JAMES COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
MEDIA ADVISORY AND PHOTO OPPORTUNITY – FOR IMMEDIATE USE
ISSUED: Friday, May 31, 2019
EVENT: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 1, 2019
HISTORIC BOSTON TO CELEBRATE ST. JAMES COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
Open House and Photograph at Historic African Orthodox Church in Roxbury
WHAT: Historic Boston Inc.’s Open House and Community Photograph with Boston Mayor Martin Walsh at the historic St. James African Orthodox Church, saved last year from demolition.
WHEN: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 1, 2019, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Media are welcome.
WHERE: St. James African Orthodox Church, 50 Cedar St., Roxbury, MA
WHO: Boston Mayor Martin Walsh: Neighbors of St. James African Orthodox Church; Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director of Historic Boston Inc., the Board of Directors and Staff of Historic Boston; Christine Poff, Director, City of Boston CPA program;
Roxbury Neighbors and Friends.
BACKGROUND
Tomorrow’s Open House and Community Photograph will be the first time the historic building will be open to neighbors since HBI purchased it in 2018. Visitors will get a behind-the-scenes look at the historic structure, while HBI honors and celebrates the community’s extraordinary mobilization to save it last year.
Mayor Walsh will announce a generous commitment of Boston’s Community Preservation Act funds toward acquisition and stabilization of the church, and the moment will be immortalized with a Community Photograph with the historic building and all the people involved. The historic building was built for a Norwegian immigrant community in the early 20th century and was sold in 1955 to St. James African Orthodox Church, a congregation of Caribbean immigrants and faith strongly associated with the followers of Black activist Marcus Garvey. Through community mobilization and an injunction filed by Mayor Walsh, the property was permanently protected as a Boston Landmark, preventing its impending demolition.
It is located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Roxbury in Boston. The property includes an existing church building measuring 8,000 square feet and a parking lot of approximately 9,000 square feet.
For more information about the event, please contact Gabrielle Chapman, 617.442.1859, gabrielle@historicboston.org.
ABOUT HISTORIC BOSTON INC.
Historic Boston Inc. is a nonprofit preservation and real estate organization that
rehabilitates historic and culturally significant properties in Boston’s neighborhoods so they can become useable parts of the city’s present and future. HBI works with local partners to identify and invest in historic buildings and cultural resources whose re-use will be catalysts for neighborhood renewal. HBI acquires and redevelops historic structures and provides technical expertise, planning services and financing for rehabilitation projects. HBI projects demonstrate that preserving historic properties is economically viable and that they can be functioning assets in a community.
For more information, please contact:
Kathy Kottaridis, Executive Director of Historic Boston, Inc.
m: 617.799.5256, kathy@historicboston.org
Or
Tom Palmer
Tom Palmer Communication
m:617.755.7250, tompalmer@rcn.com
#