Costa Mesa church demolishing 2 buildings for parking spaces

Demolition work at the First United Methodist Church campus in downtown Costa Mesa began this week.

Though the church’s Spanish Colonial Revival sanctuary, which opened in 1928, is staying put and being renovated, church leaders announced earlier this year that two add-on buildings around it would be torn down to make room for parking.

One of them, Thompson Hall, a multipurpose room, was named after a 1950s-era pastor. The second structure contained offices, a choir room and an apartment. Both date to the 1940s.

First United leaders hope freeing up space around the sanctuary will allow for growth of the congregation, which has dwindled over the years from hundreds to about 30.

First United’s current parking lot at 420 W. 19th St. has space for fewer than 20 cars, but with the additional room, the church hopes to accommodate 70 to 75 vehicles. The church had long relied on borrowing spaces from nearby parking lots, but now that those lots are routinely full, it was unable to continue doing so.

The Rev. Amy Aitken said in February that losing Thompson Hall is particularly emotional for churchgoers because it hosted decades of community events.

“They’ve had wedding receptions, funeral receptions there,” she said. “They grew up, had dances and meals in there. They have a hundred memories.”