Reprise and Up on the Roof

Almost exactly two years ago we started renovating the building of St. Mary's Episcopal Church.

The original construction of the building began in June 1886 and was completed two years later. The south side of the building, where the parish hall and kitchen are now located was finished first in 1887. Then the nave of the church and the side chapel in its northeast corner were built. So, depending on how you count it, the building is somewhere between 122 and 123 years old. In a building of that age, you're almost guaranteed that something needs work at all times. In 2009, a lot of things needed work. We're addressing them one project at a time.

Earlier posts detail our first project, the replacement of the exterior doors and doorsteps. It began in the spring of 2009 and was completed in November of that year. You can read about that work at http://smckcbuilding.blogspot.com/

After a short break, the work on the parish hall and basement restrooms began. Our hazmat abatement crew moved in the day after Easter - April 5, 2010. They completed their work in a week and the construction crew followed immediately. They completed the parish hall at the end of July. About two weeks later, the work on the choir floor and altar began and continued for about a month.

More recently Holy Smoke has brought you the story of the work in progress on other areas of the parish hall and upstairs offices which started mid-December 2010. Simply stated, during the past 24 months, there have been only about 12 weeks when some kind of renovation work was not in progress on our beautiful, old building.

Today, we shift our attention to the chapel roof which is being replaced as this is written.

The chapel is at the northeast corner of the church building. The nave of the church has a pitched roof, but the parish hall and chapel have flat roofs. Until the winter just past, both of them produced picturesque indoor waterfalls every time we got a hard rain or snow melt. Last summer, the parish hall roof was replaced and we had a worry-free winter in that space.

The chapel remained leaky. And on a warm day after a snow, there's a deluge in the closet at the corner of the sacristy. That began to change last week as a new roof began to go on. This is what it looked like from afar on Wednesday, March 30. Unfortunately, the only route to the roof is up a two-story ladder, up which Holy Smoke is, sadly, not permitted to waft.

Second Floor Office After

You've seen and read about the 2nd floor office space before the renovation. Now for the "after" pictures.

The renovated space has a comfortable, attractive parlor for small social gatherings and meetings. The fireplace supplements the new heat pump which efficiently and economically warms and cools the space. Pishny Contracting skillfully restored the stained glass windows in the parlor area.



A small conference room was created between the parlor and the inner office.


The office space is now beautifully furnished with efficient storage and workable accommodation of office machinery. The addition of a wireless printer will complete the equipment.



The old rest room was artfully reworked to accommodate a "kitchenette" with refrigerator and microwave. The space has accommodated a Vestry meeting, several committee meetings and other small gatherings since it was completed four weeks ago.



Our thanks to Dr. Michael Frost and the crew of MDF Properties for this amazing transformation.

Second Floor Office Before

In 2005 a gift was made for the renovation of the administrative office of St. Mary's. The Brougham-Cave office building is a small separate building on the church grounds between the east and south parking lots. This tiny building is about 20 years "newer" than the church building itself. Its restoration provided a comfortable and efficient work space for our accounting and other administrative functions and Downtown Outreach.

An office for the Rector was located on the second floor of the Parish Hall. This space was originally built in 1888 as a residence for the priest in charge of the parish. Rectors of St. Mary's lived there from 1888 until 1951.

It was an interesting space with original pine floors and the same decorative mill work around windows and doors as in the nave and parish hall and stained glass windows. The original fireplace is still there along with the electric heating unit that replaced it.



But its 19th century design and construction were not meant for 21st or even 20th century office machinery. Wireless internet solved one problem. But retrofitted phone jacks and electrical outlets dictated the position of furniture or resulted in in wires running across the floor.

The stained glass windows looking out to the west were badly deteriorated. The wooden frames had rotted and the lead holding the decorative panes together had deteriorated. The loose panes let in the outside air, making the rooms very uncomfortable in the winter months. The back door, leading out on to the parish hall roof provided "climate control" in the summer. It also admitted wasps, birds and other creatures to the interior office space. The floor boards had roughened over the years making them difficult to keep clean.

Although Rectors have made use of the office as a work space, it was not suitable for meetings, pastoral counseling sessions and other common uses. That changed in December 2010 with a gift from Dr. Michael Frost and the efforts of the MDF Properties renovation crew.

Basement Clean-up

The first step toward transforming the basement of the parish hall into usable space was to clear out the junk. After 123 years, a building can accumulate some interesting things and St. Mary's was no exception.

Our renovation crew began by separating the stuff we would keep from the stuff that would go away. That took about three days. The keepers were put in storage, some things were given away and the remainder was recycled or trashed.

That left a clean, empty space to start work. Our renovation last fall had included extensive work on downstairs plumbing, fire protection and security apparatus. The work this winter was about making the space functional and attractive.

A new ceiling and lighting were first on the list. The room has a southern exposure that provides wonderful natural light that is not too harsh. Fresh, clean ceiling tiles and new light fixtures brightened the space further.

Storage is a perennial problem in this old building. We have a lot more "stuff" than the 1886 design of our building anticipated. An entire wall of cabinets gave would us a tidy solution to the problem of where to put it.

Here are pictures of these "works in progress."

Goodbye Dungeon

For years the basement of the parish hall has been little more than a "junk room." Items that were infrequently used and things that no one really knew what to do with found their way there. They collected dust and took up space. Even if the junk hadn't been there, the space was not comfortable or well lit. It would have been difficult to use it for anything.

As St. Mary's continues to grow, there is more interest in activities that require comfortable and functional meeting space. In particular, our growing numbers of young children need a comfortable space for their Sunday morning activities.

The renovation of the ground floor area of the parish hall was completed last summer. At that time our focus shifted to the basement. Its transformation is underway now.

For a start, take a look at the before pictures. You can see that the ceiling tiles were deteriorated, the lighting is inadequate and the "finish" is very rough. In the next few days you'll see before and after comparisons with the work that is now in progress.

Finished Product

Once the stone floors around the altar were cleaned and patched, our crew began work on the steps of the high altar. The surrounding floor is made of limestone slabs. The altar steps are made of marble.

The steps have a gold color with streaks of ivory, brown and pink. Through decades of use they had accumulated dirt and experienced wear. The crew cleaned and polished them, brightening the color and surface finish.

The final step in the restoration of this area of the building was to cover the gaps at the intersection of the floor with the walls and altar steps. During its nearly 123 year life span the building has settled, leaving gaps at these intersection points. Our crew installed quarter round to finish the altar steps and new skirting boards along the walls to either side of the altar.

The finished product is beautiful.

Laying the Groundwork

The floors in the choir and area around the altar of the church are made of large slabs of limestone. They are original to the building. From a distance they appear to be a neutral gray or tan color, but like all natural materials, there are gradations, inconsistencies and surprises in their color.

Before the restoration work was done on the floor it was hard to tell what the stone really looked like. It was obscured by decades of accumulated smoke residue, dirt and spots of spilled candle wax. Linoleum had been applied over the stone in the early 20th century, for reasons unknown, but ideas about historic preservation were different then. About 40 years ago a carpet runner was installed in the nave from the back wall through the choir. It was anchored into the stone floor with nails.

When the linoleum was removed about 20 years ago areas of the underlying stone that were chipped in the process. The glue that had been used to apply the floor covering left a residue on the stone. The carpet runner was removed in order to access the underlying stone, exposing the nail holes. Once the floor was leveled, the masons went to work patching holes, chipes and gouges in the stone.

When the patching material dried, the entire area was cleaned with water.

Upstairs Downstairs

It's been a while since the last post on this blog. We finished the parish hall and thought things were going to quiet down, but they didn't. In fact, between May 2009 and today there have been less than 6 months when NO construction or renovation was in progress on our building.

We'll be catching you up over then next few weeks on what has happened since the parish hall was finished at the end of July last year.

Last fall, the stone floor around the altar area was restored and the altar steps were cleaned and polished. New wood trim was added around the steps and new skirting boards were installed in the altar area.

We start with the "before" pictures. The floor in the area around the altar is constructed of large limestone slabs. Some of them have settled, leaving gaps around the edges. In the late 1920s or early 1930s, linoleum was installed over the stone. It was removed 15 or 20 years ago with inappropriate methods and tools, leaving the stone floor with gouges and residue of glue. The natural settling of the building left gaps at the points of intersection between walls, steps and floor. The choir area had an old, worn carpet runner installed.

The process of restoring the floor began with removing everything movable from the choir and from the area around the altar. The carpet was removed. The stones that had settled were lifted as much as possible without damaging the stone or disturbing the floor. The holes created by the nails holding the carpet in place were filled.