Photographer Karen Dressel documents the dramatic final moments of the former Shepherd Drive Methodist Church on the corner of Blossom St. in Magnolia Grove, which hit the dirt earlier this week after 57 years of relative motionlessness:
***
Going up in its place: the Kipling School, a private pre-school and elementary, an expansion of Montrose’s Kipling Street Academy.
- About Us [The Kipling School]
- Previously on Swamplot: Kipling Street Academy Taking Over Shepherd Dr. Church, Kipling Street Academy: Doubling Kid Parking Places in Montrose
Photos: Karen Dressel, Kazza Photography
I’m surprised they didn’t recycle the steeple…
I went to your site…again. what amazes me no end, is how the scope of your subject matter can be so wide ranging and yet yet you still capture the essence of what we would see if we could look the your eyes. way too cool.
It amazes me as well I never know what to expect when I come to this blog . . . Im not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
This is news.
Whoa…these pictures are cool. Thanks for sharing them! The third one up is incredible.
Another church bites the dust. I would be interested in seeing a study evaluating the demise of Christianity inside the Loop based upon demos of churches.
The Kipling St Academy sort of rolled over the WAMM deed restrictions without so much as a “how do you do?”
Oh, WAMM? Neighborhood Association – Westheimer, Alabama, Montrose, Mulberry.
I don’t think they have many fans there.
@superdave
Your study would not show you the demise of Christianity in the loop. The majority of thriving modern churches are not located in these old traditional buildings, therefore they are being torn down. But that doesn’t signal the demise of anything other than an old building. Some of the fastest growing and young churches are in the Loop. Ekklesia in Montrose and Grace Bible in the Heights are just 2 examples. Heck, the largest church in the entire country, Lakewood, is inside the loop.
to “Stating the Obvious”,
They did recycle the steeple. They recycled everything, but took different materials in separate truck loads.
from Karen Dressel – photographer
Good riddance. Let’s get this property back on the tax rolls ASAP.
amen to #10. Churches and private education getting a pass on property taxes is just wrong wrong wrong. it opens up too many loopholes.
things become clouded, like when 2nd baptist buys the adjacent shopping center. they own it, they operate a portion of it for church activities, does that take the entire property off the tax roles? That’s easily a $20MM property now not part of COH taxes, and yet using an unusually high pro-rata portion of traffic control, road maintenance since the remaining businesses there are high traffic.
another example — i want to buy a piece of real estate. i start a “church” and then buy it. i now have a free hold on a piece of dirt forever, don’t I? it’s just wrong wrong wrong.
private schools and universities are no different. st agnus now has taken a 4 corners hard corner off the tax roll @ bellaire/fondren so they can have athletic fields, and theoretically could continue to take in the same manner forever. who is to say a board member there wouldn’t buy/BTS a building for them, then pass on the effective tax savings through a long-term cheap rent deal???
HBU – same thing. the list goes on and on.