The Pittsfield Historical Commission has voted to delay the demolition of the former Catholic Youth Center at 26 Melville Street for up to a year. The building is unheated and has been vacant for over a decade.
PITTSFIELD – The former Catholic youth center at 26 Melville Street has been vacant for more than a decade.
There is no heating because the boiler was rendered inoperable by a flood in the basement. The gymnasium, the scene of countless community basketball matches, was demolished in 2019.
The Catholic youth center in Pittsfield is discontinuing its programs due to the deteriorating building
But the city’s Historical Commission is not convinced the building is outdated and voted Monday to delay a request by the current owners, the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires, to demolish the building. Members said the building is an important part of the neighborhood’s streetscape and should be reused if possible.
The delay will not take effect until a yet-to-be-scheduled public hearing on the building. It will give the Boys and Girls Club a year to better document the building’s history and make a serious effort to arrange for its reuse.
The nonprofit, which bought the vacant building from the Diocese of Springfield for $75,000 in 2015, wants to demolish it to move the outdoor playground for its child care program closer to Melville Street – and away from the CSX rail line south of Melville Street.
Pittsfield Boys & Girls Club buys former Catholic youth center
Attorney Thomas Hamel, who represents the Boys and Girls Club, said the building’s boiler was destroyed by a flood before the Diocese of Springfield sold it. The club bought the building in 2015 to protect its own property and acquire the associated parking spaces, he said.
How important are these parking spaces?
At some point, Hamel said, commercial real estate developer David Carver inquired about purchasing the former CYC, which had been built in 1911-1912 as the Father Mathew Total Abstinence Society, an organization whose members vowed to abstain from alcohol.
“But that would have required us to relocate a lot of the parking on the site to meet zoning requirements,” Hamel said. “That didn’t work for us. We said ‘thanks, but no thanks.'”
The Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires, which owns the former Catholic youth center at 26 Melville Street, wants to demolish the building. The city’s Historical Commission on Monday put that request on hold for up to a year.
Demolishing the building, Hamel said, would allow the Boys and Girls Club to relocate the outdoor playground for its child care program away from the CSX trails. He said the club has considered expanding its child care program to the vacant building but was deterred by the more than $2 million it would cost to bring it up to code.
“We do not consider it a historic building, although we recognize that it is over 75 years old,” Hamel said, adding that the greatest historical value lies in people’s memories.
The Commission members disagreed with this assessment and complained that, in their opinion, the application did not contain any historical documentation.
“I would argue that this building actually plays a significant role in the urban fabric of this part of downtown and the streetscape along Melville,” said Commissioner Matthew E. Herzberg. “I think, quite frankly, the demolition of this building will have a negative impact on the remaining buildings.”
“I would say the architecture is quite appealing and quite historic,” he added. “I understand your dilemma. I understand the need to move the playground. But to me, that’s not a good trade.”
Commissioner Carol Nichols said she would like to know if there are options to convert the building to other uses, such as housing. “I would rather see it used than demolished, but I also understand your dilemma,” she said.
The three-story Catholic Youth Center at 26 Melville St. was built in 1911–12 as a home for a temperance club.
According to Boys and Girls Club records, the building was constructed by members of the Father Michael Total Abstinence Society. The group, founded in 1874 by parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church, raised $47,000 and obtained a $20,000 mortgage from Berkshire Bank & Trust to finance construction.
The organization changed its name to Father Mathew Catholic Youth Center in 1953. It turned the building over to the Diocese of Springfield in 1959 and discontinued its programs there in 2013 because its condition deteriorated.
As an organization, CYC offered programs at remote locations before merging with the Berkshire Family YMCA in 2018.
