Sacred Heart 1 of 7 Long Island 'Endangered' Sites

A Cutchogue parish which hasn't held a service since December is one of seven properties listed as 'endangered' by the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities.

Sacred Heart Church, Rectory & Carriage House was built in the late 1870s and despite a sit-in by some parishoners to keep church services going at the Roman Catholic worship house, was ultimately considered too much of a danger to keep open.

“The interior walls are detaching from the studs,” Deacon Jeff Sykes told Patch shortly after the parish held its final mass. “This is due to years of water damage leaking into the church — the foundation bricks are collapsing and the cross beams are rotted. We cannot guarantee the safety of the church.”

Repairs have been estimated to be as much as $2 million – though some churchgoers, hoping to keep it open, have doubted those numbers. 

The Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities released its third annual list of Endangered Historic Places, citing "the poor condition of the church, and the costs associated with restoration" as the decision to include Sacred Heart on it. Other places on the list this year include the Henry Rhodes House in Southampton and the Oyster Bay Train Station.

According to SPLIA, the church was originally built by and for Irish and German immigrants, and later used by Italian and Polish communities.

SPLIA, a nonprofit founded in 1948, "advocates a save that would include local landmark designation of the complex and the Town’s cooperation in developing incentives that encourage adaptive reuse of the church."