(Image from ncpedia.org/christian-science)

On Monday, February 4, a little cottage at 910 S. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas was fenced off and partial demolition began. The single-story, former residential building, probably built in the 1940s, had housed numerous businesses over previous decades, most recently Azul Jewelry.

Construction workers on the site said the building is being partially demolished and will be rebuilt in the same footprint as the old one. It will become the new location for a Christian Science Reading Room — a bookstore and library where folks can learn more about the Christian Science church and their healing-through-prayer philosophy.

Currently the church’s reading room is several blocks away, at 681 2nd Street. But moving to Main Street may not help the church become mainstream. Many Christian Science congregations around the country have an aging membership, and churches have needed to be consolidated or closed.

Several years ago, the Encinitas church sold their buildings and property located at the corner of Encinitas Boulevard and Balour Drive. Sunday services are now held outdoors at Cottonwood Creek Park. In addition to the reading room, the church also owns a nursing facility on Sparta Drive.