Preserving the 100-year-old Methodist Church building in downtown Seattle from yet another skyscraper project is key to protecting the physical fabric of the city. Thankfully, a group of concerned citizens is struggling to put together a deal to save the building and move the church to a less costly location downtown where it can continue its social outreach.

So why is the Seattle Times prepared to give up on a deal?

The paper’s take:

If the path is demolition, a towering skyscraper and construction of a new church on another downtown site, the city will have to live with that decision.

First United Methodist Church does not carry the burden of stewardship of Seattle’s heritage, especially in a community that has discarded and abandoned buildings — sacred and secular — as so many disposable tissues.

No, Seattle doesn’t have to live with a hypothetical decision to destroy the building. We shouldn’t stand by and lose another piece of history.

It shouldn’t be allowed to get that far, of course. We should exhaust every possible avenue to protect the building, precisely because our history of tearing down important structures leaves us with so few still standing. A group including King County Councilman Dow Constantine coordinated a package with developer Nitze-Stagen that would preserve the sanctuary and relocate the church’s operations.

Short-sighted, defeatist logic has already cost Seattle much of its heritage. Remember when the Music Hall was destroyed by wrecking balls in 1992? At the time, the need for an ornate building in what was then still a wasteland downtown wasn’t obvious. Now, with the Paramount, Fifth Avenue, Cinerama and Coliseum all restored in some form, that beautiful building remains a terrible loss.

No one disputes that the church needs to continue to do good works. But Seattle should demand a solution that also preserves the city’s urban fabric for the future. Don’t just give up.