Holy Ghost Church

Endowed by Helen Bonfils, the Holy Ghost Church was built in 1943 and designed by architect Jon K Monroe. Bonfils also supplied air conditioning to the new church which was a major luxury at the time. In a very controversial move during the oil boom of the late 70's, the church sold title to the ground on which it sat to the developers of 1999 Broadway. The developers paid $5 million cash with a $6 million note to buy the church. The parish would still have use, but not ownership. The result was a 40 story tower that stands almost atop the church. Unfortunately for the developers, the oil bust of 1983 made the project (which had just been completed) unprofitable. To get out of the contract, they returned ownership of the church to the parish and keep the property beneath the tower. The net result was that the church sold only a small portion of it's property and some out buildings for approximately $9.5 million. Of course they do have a 40 story office tower on top of them.


	It is no exaggeration that the office tower sits directly on top of the church.