Circle Church (Garfield Park)

The road makes a circle around this property, and the neighborhood streets wheel out from the center, making this hub a landmark and giving The Circles neighborhood its name. The church/community center/park have been here in some form since the 1890s, but the property was purchased a few years ago by a group that intends to build 12 units of co-housing in the space. They insist that they are not developers, but neighbors who want to create a unique space to live. Permits and approvals for this project are taking forever. Circle Church has been slated for demolition for a couple years now, and the work has finally begun, over on the other side. I need to get back over there to take a better look.  The pink octopus on the right side of the building is part of an art project that attempted to honor the space before it vanished completely. Depending on your perspective, there are many ways to think about this upheaval. I wish there had been a way to keep it as a public space, but it wasn’t a viable idea.