Report: City refuses landmark status to 3 Catholic churches

Three empty Manhattan Catholic churches last-ditch attempt to preserve the buildings failed last week.

Crain’s New York reported that the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission denied requests by the three churches to protect the buildings.

Applications from to save the Upper East Side’s St. Elizabeth of Hungary at East 83rd Street and St. Stephen of Hungary at East 82nd Street, as well as East Harlem’s Holy Rosary at East 119th Street, were declined commission after it found none had enough historic merit for even temporary protection.

Crain’s reported two other churches did qualify and can be saved from any changes to the buildings that fail to maintain their historic look and feel.

All three churches denied landmark status were on a list released by the Archdiocese of New York — which oversees churches in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx — that listed 31 congregations selected to close and merge with neighboring parishes.