From: Rabbi Moshe Sofer
To: Rabbi Yitzchok Heilperin
A community demolished a structurally defective synagogue and planned to build a new one nearby, converting the old sacred site into a mere courtyard. The Chasam Sofer upholds the local rabbi's prohibition, ruling that the old site retains its full sanctity and cannot be downgraded to a courtyard, following the Magen Avraham that a communal synagogue can never be sold or repurposed. He adds that degrading such a site would constitute chillul Hashem.
Source: Shu"t Chasam Sofer OC §31