I'm sharing these photos because I'd like you to join with me and the many good people of Worcester as we mourn the passing of this amazing building. The year-long restriction on demolition expires in the coming days and this building is going to be razed. Here's how it was reported on by Worcester's Telegram & Gazette last year:

Developers of the multimillion-dollar CitySquare project said they would apply to the Worcester Building Department Friday for a permit to demolish the enormous empty edifice at 5 Salem Square that stands, deteriorating, in the footprint of their downtown development.

“It is with a great deal of reluctance that we find ourselves in this position,” said Donald W. Birch, executive vice president of Leggat McCall Properties, the Boston firm overseeing the CitySquare development.

“We’ve always said from the very beginning that our preference has been to find an appropriate adaptive reuse of the church. After five-plus years of trying, we don’t have a viable plan.”

In an op-ed for the Worcester Sun republished on our site, Joyce Mandell advocated for a reuse, not a demolition, of this beautiful church:

Smart cities know the real truth: that adaptive reuse of historic buildings makes dollars and sense, and translates into tangible economic benefits like job creation, increases in tourism, resource cost savings, downtown revitalization, niche business incubation and community branding opportunities.

The famous urban theorist Jane Jacobs noted, “Cities need old buildings so badly, it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.”

But the church was sold in 2010 to the Hanover Insurance Group for $875,000, and the insurance company remains unable to find a "viable plan" for the building—ostensibly something that would make their $875,000 investment worthwhile. You can explore the site on Google Maps. The most recent news suggests that an as-yet-unnamed buyer is in talks to purchase the church.