Landslide damage to the historic Wayfarers Church in Rancho Palos Verdes increases every day.
More windows in the famous glass church were shattered. Metal frames on the walls and ceiling twist further. New cracks appear in the parking lot.
Landslides beneath the church – largely controllable decades ago – have accelerated to unprecedented speeds, threatening to upend the church’s future possibilities at its idyllic seaside location.
Church leaders announced Monday that they plan to begin demolishing the church. They say they want to preserve as much as possible of the national historic landmark, longtime spiritual sanctuary and famous wedding venue.
“We are taking immediate action to carefully remove the church’s historic materials as a necessary step to preserve the church for future generations,” Wayfarers Church executive director Dan Burchett said in a statement. “Wayfarers is committed to keeping our iconic church intact, whether at its current location or at a similar location in nearby Rancho Palos Verdes.”
Burchett and his team had been looking for another nearby site – on more stable ground – where the church could be rebuilt as close to its original form as possible. He said they would also continue to monitor the landslide to see if the church could be reassembled on site – but as land movement intensified, that looked increasingly unfeasible.
In February, Wayfarers closed due to landslides and safety concerns. Last month, city officials red-tagged the administration building not far from Walker Church, saying that as of Monday, all underground utilities at the site, including electric, water, sewer and natural gas, were damaged and inoperable. use.
The 100-seat glass and wood sanctuary was built in 1951 and designed by architect Lloyd Wright, son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Burchett said demolition, by conservation design firm Architectural Resources Group, will be a tedious process. This week, the team is preparing the property for the larger project, and Burchett expects work to begin next week.
“The church will not be able to withstand any more damage until it is no longer able to be saved,” Walkers Association officials said in a news release. “It has been determined that immediate demolition of the church is the safest and most feasible conservation action at this time and will prevent damage to the church.” Further irreparable damage was caused to the structure and materials of the church.”
Many of the church’s building materials are no longer available, so the deconstruction allowed the structure to retain its historic name and paved the way for “a careful and thoughtful reconstruction of the church in the future,” Burchett said.
“As time goes on, more and more materials are lost or irreparably damaged,” said Katie Horak, principal of Building Resources Group. As deconstruction begins, “our teams are working on The race is against the clock to document and move these building components to a safe location so they can be put together again.”
Some irreplaceable components, she said, include old redwood glulam (or laminated wood held together with adhesive), blue roof tiles and the elegant steel mesh that holds the windows together.
The city’s latest report on the historic landslide that affected Palos Verdes Drive South in Rancho Palos Verdes found that land movement accelerated further in March and April to nearly double the amount recorded from January to March. Approximately 700 acres of land on two sides. The city’s geologists found that in some of the fastest-moving areas, hillsides were moving as much as nine inches per week.
“The Wayfarers Church has been a treasured part of our community for generations,” Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor John Cruikshank said in a statement. “The city … is committed to “
Burchett said the cost of demolishing and closing the campus is estimated at $300,000 to $500,000, far exceeding the nearly $70,000 raised through an online fundraiser after the church was forced to close and cease most operations.
A full rebuild is expected to cost nearly $20 million, Burchett said.
The nonprofit has set aside about $5 million in savings for the effort, with revenue coming primarily from weddings at the venue. Couples pay more than $5,000 to get married at the Instagram-popular church.
However, Burchett said Wayfarers still needs further community support and plans to fundraise for the rest.
