Plan to Regulate Proposed Demolition of Church Before Council

Proposed strip mall would replace the iconic St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church near GAR Park.

Haverhill city councilors are expected to vote tonight on whether to give the Haverhill Historic Commission authority to place conditions on the proposed demolition of St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church, 110 Main St.

The ordinance would give the Haverhill Historic Commission authority to regulate any demolition proposals within the federally designated Main Street Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Specifically, it allows the commission to freeze the issuance of demolition permits by the building inspector while a “significant building” review takes place. It was prompted by a proposal by the owner of the Domino’s franchise at 57 Dudley St. to relocate from rented space to a new strip development on the current church property. Meanwhile, St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Church is looking to complete building a new church in Ward Hill, near the North Andover border.

At the request of Mayor James J. Fiorentini, City Solicitor William D. Cox Jr. drafted an amendment to an ordinance regulating the historic commission to “provide a level of review and consideration before the demolition of historic structures within the Main Street Historic District,” according to meeting agenda documents.  At the last council meeting, June 7, a motion by Councilor Thomas J. Sullivan to place the draft ordinance on file for the required two weeks was passed.

The church building is a descendant of Haverhill’s founding church. The First Parish Unitarian, which over the centuries had several buildings of worship around the city common and downtown beginning in 1645, vacated the property in 1926 when it began meeting within the Universalist Church on Kenoza Avenue. The two congregations merged in 1950, forming the Universalist-Unitarian Church of Haverhill. The church once faced the common—now known as GAR Park—and was rotated to face Main Street.