A Century-Old New York Church Is Being Gutted and Rebuilt as a Children's Museum

The church at 361 Central Park West has stood since 1903. It cost $1.185 million to build, was paid for entirely in cash, and was described at the time as a structure where nothing was spared. It has since served as a congregation, been sold, nearly converted into luxury apartments, and sat semi-empty for years. It is now being gutted and rebuilt as a children's museum.

Construction began this month on the conversion of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, into the new home of the Children's Museum of Manhattan. Shawmut Design and Construction is managing the project, with FXCollaborative as architect and THG Creative handling exhibit design. The building, a New York City landmark, sits on the corner of 96th Street and Central Park West overlooking Central Park.

The structural challenge is considerable. Engineers are threading seven full floors into a building whose original interior was a single vast auditorium designed to seat 2,000 people. The cavernous void left by that auditorium, which has been stripped to its shell, now has to accommodate a complete museum programme without compromising the landmark exterior. Shawmut has described the task as delicately threading seven floors within the cavernous building while preserving the overall structure and key spatial features.

The church's white Concord granite facade will be restored. Its distinctive steeple and overall massing will remain intact. The barrel vault inside, and the tall arched windows that define the building's character, are being retained as centrepieces of the new interior. Natural light from those windows will run through the gallery levels.

When complete, the building will be 80,000 square feet, double the size of the museum's current home on West 83rd Street, where it has operated since its founding in 1973. The new space will include hands-on exhibits, immersive learning environments, a cafe, a museum store, a performance space and a rooftop terrace with views of Central Park. The museum will expand its age range to cover children from birth to ten years old.

The total project budget is $300 million. Funding to date includes $50 million from Laurie M. Tisch, $46.1 million from New York City and $30 million from the Bezos Family Foundation. The museum remains open at its current location while construction progresses. Completion is expected in 2028.