Another reprieve for Church of the Assumption

The historic Church of the Assumption at 12th and Spring Garden Streets lived to see another day Friday after the city's Licenses and Inspections Review Board issued a stay of the demolition permit for the property.

The board upheld the permit but put a stay on it until owner Jonathan Wei, who says he has to knock it down because it is unsafe, and neighbors, who want to preserve the building and its twin spires, get a court ruling on their dispute.

Samuel Stretton, a lawyer for the neighbors, said he was hopeful a buyer for the church, which was the site of St. Katharine Drexel's baptism, would emerge. But Wei's lawyer, Carl Primavera, said he would ask Philadelphia Common Pleas Court to require the neighbors to buy a bond that will protect his client against liability should parts of the church deteriorate and hurt people or surrounding properties. - Miriam Hill