merret - Re_ St John Cantius. The Northampton Community Preservation Committee.pdf8/23/22, 1:12 PM City of Northampton Mail - Re: St John Cantius. The Northampton Community Preservation Committee
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ik=fec0f72d97&view=pt&search=all&permthid=thread-f%3A1741918863683476917%7Cmsg-f%3A17419188636834…1/1
Sarah LaValley <slavalley@northamptonma.gov>
Re: St John Cantius. The Northampton Community Preservation Committee
1 message
Mark Merrett <merrettmark@gmail.com>Mon, Aug 22, 2022 at 10:54 PM
To: slavalley@northamptonma.gov
To the Northampton Community Preservation Committee
Dear Committee Member,
At the recent meeting of the Northampton Historical Commission, we heard a presentation by Mark Thaler, an architect
and historical preservationist, who had been retained by the O’Connell Development Corporation. This presentation
reassured us that O’Connell’s plan to convert the current church building into multi family rental units would retain the
historic integrity of the building.
The requested funding represents a substantial amount of money. However, when compared to the potential historic and
cultural loss of this unique landmark, we feel that this is money well spent. This funding will not only prevent the
demolition of this building, it will also leverage a much larger expenditure by the O’Connell Development Corporation in
order to preserve and repurpose it into multi family housing units. We believe this represents an additional benefit for our
city.
St John Cantius is a reminder of the hard work and commitment of the Polish immigrant community who built it and a
tribute to the richness of our city’s history. Please help save it.
Mark and Susan Merrett
50 Hawley Street,
Northampton,
01060