The Other Church of the Assumption

Spring Garden's Church of the Assumption still stands, largely gutted, facing an unfortunate and familiar fate. Despite a fate as crumbling as the building itself, its steeples still stand proudly...and straight.

Another landmark church, the Emanuel German Lutheran Church on South 4th Street does not appear to be as lucky. But its fate is the result of neglect instead of litigation.

As of 2010, the Vietnamese Phat Quang Buddhist Temple was hopeful about the church they occupied, but four years later the structure remains a little more weathered, and when I drove by this morning, its steeple seems to be leaning eastward.

 Knowing that two of the biggest obstacles in saving the Church of the Assumption came from restoring the two towers which served little active purpose to potential tenants, the construction headaches in an even larger tower and steeple that has begun to significantly sag, will unlikely be tackled.

Whether or not preservationists revisit the Emanuel Lutheran Church on South 4th Street, the tower seems to be a cause already lost to the elements.