PHILADELPHIA — The Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia announced plans to demolish a church that dates to the late 19th century despite efforts by neighbors and former parishioners to save the building.

The archdiocese said it would cost nearly $3.5 million to repair and restore Saint Laurentius church, including rebuilding its soaring towers, and that would “seriously jeopardize the fiscal welfare of the parish as well as its future existence.”

“The decision was not made lightly and was made to provide for the safety of the community as well as the continued presence of a Catholic parish in Fishtown,” the archdiocese said in a statement Sunday, referring to the neighborhood northeast of downtown.

Officials noted that the adjacent Saint Laurentius School would remain open.

“Appropriate measures will be taken to ensure that school operations can continue safely and on a normal schedule during the process of demolishing the church building,” the statement said.

The church was closed a year ago after the archdiocese said an engineering firm examined the building exterior and cited problems such as vertical cracks and “heavily deteriorated faces” in the brownstone masonry. Officials said severe weather during the 2013-14 winter accelerated the deterioration and “put portions of the building in danger of collapse.”

Demolishing the structure, estimated to cost about $1 million, would be financed by the sale of unutilized parish property, officials said. Parishioners were informed at Masses over the weekend, and officials said they would help the parish obtain needed permits and site surveys.

The parish was merged with neighboring Holy Name of Jesus Parish in a cost-saving move in July 2013, but use of the building was allowed for celebrations such as funerals, weddings and baptisms as well as some Masses. After the church was closed in March 2014, the icons and other relics were removed.

Parishioners, who say the church erected in the late 1880s was the first Polish Roman Catholic church in the city, have disputed the amount that it would take to restore the structure, saying their estimates total only $700,000. They earlier appealed the closure decision to the Vatican but said they had received no response.

John Wisniewski, a longtime parish member who said he was baptized in Saint Laurentius, accused archdiocese officials of being “very indifferent and calculated” in their treatment of parishioners and predicted the merger and demolition would eventually result in the closure of Holy Name as well.