Upper West Side church gets Landmarks OK to add apartments

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church’s plan yesterday to add a seven-story residential component to the church site on the Upper West Side.

DXA Studio is designing the conversion at 140-142 West 81st Street. Church officials propose constructing as many as 10 apartments, with the top two floors holding duplexes. The project will also result in repaired stained glass windows and some of the church windows being replaced with wood-frame windows. The property, built in 1893, will have two separate entrances – one for the church and one for the apartments.

Landmarks Commissioner Frederick Bland called the proposal “exemplary,” noting that such a conversion is often a difficult task, Curbed reported. [Curbed] — Mark Maurer