Restoration effort seeks landmark status

PORTLAND – A group seeking to preserve the nation’s third-oldest African-American meetinghouse has applied to the city for landmark status amid financial problems and project delays.

Seven years after the Committee to Restore the Abyssinian Church started its work, the four-story building at the edge of Portland’s Munjoy Hill neighborhood stands boarded up and empty.

It is unclear how much money the nonprofit group has spent so far on staff salaries, architectural studies and building maintenance. And it appears that the group has raised little of the estimated $1.3 million needed to complete the preservation project.

The Abyssinian Religious Society built the meetinghouse in 1828. It closed in 1917 and was remodeled into apartments in 1924. The city eventually claimed the property for payment of back taxes before selling it to the preservation group in 1998 for $250.

The city’s Historic Preservation Committee is scheduled to review the group’s request for landmark designation on Wednesday. Getting local landmark status is seen as a first step toward similar state and federal recognition, which would help the group raise money and promote interest in the project.

Group members say operating funds ran out early last year. Executive director Deborah Cummings Khadraoui said she then stopped working for the group. The 11-member board of directors has yet to replace her.

Group members say they have been struggling to reorganize and rejuvenate the preservation effort, especially in the area of fund raising. Interim leader Keith Rollins said the task has been made more difficult because Khadraoui has failed to turn over financial records to them.

The Abyssinian group is registered as a tax-exempt organization with the Internal Revenue Service. By law, its annual tax returns are a matter of public record and must be provided on demand when the request is made in person.

The group’s last IRS tax return posted on the Internet was filed in August 2001 for 2000. The return shows that the group received $45,875 in contributions, claimed $54,134 in expenses and had $14,705 in assets at the end of 2000.

Khadraoui refused to provide copies of more recent tax returns but told a reporter she would be able to provide the financial documents in two weeks.

While little has been done to the building’s exterior, group members say a lot has happened inside, including demolition of apartments. Federal grant money helped finance the work.

Some members of the group expressed frustration that funding for the project has all but dried up. Rollins said he hopes to renew public interest in the Abyssinian and accelerate the preservation process.

“This is a no-brainer,” Rollins said. “It’s our history, but it’s also your history. It’s everyone’s history … We want to get the whole community involved.”