Laurence Fishburne, Mark Ruffalo join calls to save landmark church and theater space

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — Celebrities like Laurence Fishburne, Mark Ruffalo and Matthew Broderick were among those rallying Saturday to keep a 135-year-old church and theater space on the Upper West Side open.

West-Park Presbyterian Church on 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue is home to the Center at West Park, a community performing arts space.

In 2010, the building received landmark status, but its owners wanted to reverse that, citing expensive upkeep, and sell it to developers.

Debby Hirshman, the Center’s executive director, says since 2023, $8 million has been raised to ensure the building’s maintenance and remove the almost-25-year-old sidewalk shed on it.

Now, she’s raising the $34 million the building was valued at to buy it.

“My hope is by summer, we will have raised the funds or be well on the way,” she said.

Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal says he’s been in court speaking with the Landmarks Preservation Commission and City Hall.

“We’ve moved the ball, and we’re getting closer than ever to preserving this amazing space for generations,” he said.

CBS News New York reached out to a member of the church’s congregation, but they declined to comment.

Saturday, celebrities and advocates came together at the Center to show their support.

“You don’t have to come after this beautiful old church. Please, I’m begging you,” said Ruffalo, a longtime supporter of the space. “We see this as a great economic driver on the Upper West Side. This is basically the Upper West Side’s answer to the Public Theater.”

“I also depended on buildings like this when I was a kid to learn sports, theatre, everything,” Broderick said.

“The Matrix” star and Upper West Sider Laurence Fishburne is performing in a staged reading of his play “Riff Raff” at the theater this weekend.

“We can’t lose this place. We can’t let this place be destroyed. We really have to protect it and preserve it,” he said.

Up-and-coming producer Bailey Jordan Garcia co-founded a production company supporting nonbinary and trans artists.

“And the fact that this may not exist as a space anymore is, is really sad,” Garcia said.

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