Area church trying to serve as hub for West Philadelphia

Teetering gables and peeling plaster encase the heart of West Philadelphia -- which some of its residents say is beating more strongly than ever these days.

In a broken-down Protestant church building at 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue, just a few blocks from Penn's campus, members of the community have discovered a cornerstone for West Philadelphia culture and community -- and have begun to breathe life back into one of the area's most historic buildings.

But just over 10 years ago, that building was being dissected.

Built in 1906, Calvary United Methodist Church had become a decrepit building by the 1990s, suffering from a general increase in religious apathy, said community member Rich Kirk.

Congregants had put the building's Tiffany windows up for sale. The Victorian stained glass dome in the roof above the church's decaying sanctuary was removed and sold. Finally, a for sale sign was erected on the property.

"That was when the community got really upset," Kirk said.

It was "kind of a wake-up call," said Dan Flaumenhaft, director of Crossroads Music at Calvary.

At that point, Friends of Calvary -- an organization consisting of church and community members -- formed and rallied support for the church community, with the goal of raising money to get the building and the congregation back on its feet.

After some initial fundraising, architectural and feasibility studies pointed to the versatility of the space within the building.

The sale of the dome was rescinded, and emergency repairs were made to the building -- including installing heat and a new roof. It wasn't long before the "idea evolved of doing something with the community," Kirk said.

And now, a church whose congregation had dwindled steadily over the decades is home to three diverse congregations and six community and special interest groups through the Calvary Center for Culture & Community.

"More than 1,000 people are connected to the building," Kirk says. "The community sees the place as a sort of unofficial town hall."

The table full of flyers and advertisements is testament to that fact.

This is the place where Aunt Beth advertises her baked goods and where the Prometheus Radio Project -- which promotes "freeing the airwaves from corporate control" -- prepares for a demonstration.

Another group, ANSWER, or Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, has posted bright yellow flyers publicizing a Mass March on Washington to end the occupation of Iraq. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings convene just around the corner from where Ju-Jitsu classes are taught.

But perhaps the most important outgrowth of the Calvary Center's renaissance is Crossroads Music.

Crossroads began as a three-way partnership between Cherry Tree Music Cooperative -- a folk coffee house that was in the area for 30 years -- Calvary Center and the Renaissance Arts Network.

Although Cherry Tree closed last May, Crossroads is a way to keep "live, first-rate, nationally and internationally known groups... in the area," Flaumenhaft added.

At the concerts, "you'll see people sitting at tables together who never knew each other... just talking about neighborhood things," Kirk said.

One of the goals of Calvary Center "was to bring all of the people of the neighborhood there, and bring them together in ways that were non-threatening... let them get to know each other better," he added.

And while residents are getting acquainted with each other, they are also re-orienting themselves to the area.

The center has spurred development and activity along the Baltimore Avenue corridor, aiding a commercial revitalization project spearheaded by the University City District, Kirk said.

"There was nothing going on at that corner," he continued. Now there's a "lot more foot traffic."

Still, the building continues to be plagued by structural problems.

The sanctuary at Calvary has not been used since the late 1970s, Church Administrator Ed Fell said.

"The gables need to be stabilized. It's not dangerous dangerous, but it's not helping the building," he continued.

Fell estimates that the center will need close to $1.5 million more for renovations.

One blueprint for reconstruction involves using the church "as a training camp for people who are readjusting to society, people who have come out of incarceration," Kirk said.

But the apprenticeship program would "have to wait until we get [some] structural problems fixed," he continued.

In the meantime, Calvary Center is working to light the Tiffany windows from the inside at night another step toward quickening the pulse of West Philadelphia.

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