Neighbors of a Park Avenue Christian Scientist church are objecting to a plan to rent the space out for catered events, including bar mitzvah receptions.

LocationsMagazine.com has already listed the Third Church of Christ Scientist’s stately brick building at 63rd Street, designed by the architects Delano & Aldrich, as “NYC’s most exciting new space.” The venue even has its own Web site as 583ParkAve.com. But an attorney for the cooperative board of 580 Park Avenue has written to the Department of Buildings arguing that the arrangement violates the conditions under which the Department of Buildings granted the church permission to use its space as a social hall and as a house of worship.

“It’s a residential area. They can’t establish a catering hall,” said a professor of urban affairs at nearby Hunter College, Elaine Walsh, who said it ultimately was a zoning issue.

A co-founder of Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, Elizabeth Ashby, said a problem exists when nonprofits think they can get away with commercial uses. “By that same argument, a nonprofit could have a munitions factory,” she said.

Plans by the Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, located a few blocks north, to hold large events in its cavernous space have also met some community resistance.

The clerk of the Christian Scientist church, Dora Redman, said the church believes that it has the authority from the Building Commission under the zoning regulation’s “accessory use” for the church to hold such functions.

But the attorney for 580 Park Avenue, Phyllis Weisberg, argues that the premises will be operated as a catering establishing by the Rose Group Park Avenue and not by the church. Ms. Weisberg wrote on January 9 to the buildings commissioner for Manhattan that the buildings department had stipulated that the church social hall was to be used and operated “exclusively and only by the church and for its members.”

A member of the board of trustees of 570 Park Avenue, George Davis, said he and his board were seeking more information about the church’s intended functions, and hopes their plans regarding catered events would be “exposed to sunlight.” Ms. Redman said the church had been there since 1923 and always tried to be a good neighbor and that was their goal as they proceeded.

Meanwhile, the pews have come out of the building and a kitchen is coming in. A liquor license application has been filed, according to Ms. Weisberg’s letter, which also says that documents filed with the state liquor authority indicate the Rose Group has been granted a 20-year lease for the premises.

Louis Rose, who heads up Rose Group Park Avenue LLC, could not be reached by deadline. It is unclear whether the same Louis Rose who in 2002 was managing director of Cipriani’s 42nd Street is the same Mr. Rose running this new catering operation at Park Avenue at 63rd Street.

Ms. Weisberg did not return the calls from the New York Sun. But in the letter to the building’s department, she wrote that the church’s application for a liquor license itself raises issues since “we understand that Christian Scientists eschew the use of alcohol and although Christian Scientists do not have Bar Mitzvahs, the application before the State Liquor Authority references the intent to hold such functions.”

A spokesman for the Christian Science mother church in Boston, Norman Bleichman, said the independent nature of each branch church allows them to make whatever decisions they wish in using their own facilities. Mr. Bleichman said drinking of alcohol was not consonant with Christian Science, and that it is exceptional for weddings to take place in a Christian Science church. In the late nineteenth century, Mary Baker Eddy founded Christian Science, whose doctrines include the effectiveness of spiritual healing.

Ms. Redman said renovations were a restoration to bring the building back to its original beauty. A member of the church, Paul Hannesson, said the changes would render the church more useful to the community. Years ago, when this particular church had more members, attendees included dancer Ginger Rogers and actress Doris Day.

A co-founder of Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, Teri Slater, said the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 8 declined a request by the church to cover up the church’s name on the outside of the building. Ms. Ashby, another co-founder of the group, said she recalled the argument that the church would be helped by raising money through space rental. She said, “one sympathizes with them, but you can’t put in a catering establishment just to help them out.”