The Strange Afterlife of Christ Church
When Christ Church closed in 1986, the Diocese of Maryland, Baltimore City, and Mount Vernon stakeholders had no real plan for what came next. The closure and sale of a large church in the area was not unprecedented; Franklin Street Presbyterian had merged with First Presbyterian a decade earlier and sold its building to New Unity Church Ministries. An altar-centered "high church" building with a high bell tower proved to be a bit tougher of a sale, though. With no congregational offers, perennial Democratic candidate and millionaire contractor George P. Mahoney , a Roman Catholic who lived across the street in the Belvedere Hotel, bought the property. The bell tower is both historic, and a safety hazard Mahoney was the first in a line of eccentric characters to be involved with the the old church. He had run for governor and the U.S. Senate half a dozen times, most (in)famously losing to Spiro Agnew in the 1966 gubernatorial race. Reporters of the time described h