Churches Under Wraps for Rehab

Courtesy of Boston Courant July 29-August 4
- Melina Schuler, Courant News Writer

Several prominent Back Bay churches are under wraps, with planned unveilings starting in the fall.

First Church Boston, Old South Church and Trinity Church are undergoing renovations to preserve architectural or artistic elements of their structures.
The 150-foot steeple at First Church Boston at the corner of Marlborough and Berkeley streets is being restored after structural analysis showed the steeple needed to be fixed or taken down. “Everybody realized that (removing it) would have been a terrible loss for the architecture of the Back Bay,” said Ernie Carroll, building consultant for First Church Boston.

The purple-brown puddingstones on the steeple, tower and exterior belfry are being removed, cleaned and reused or replaced, Carroll said. Limestones that have deteriorated will be filled in with mortar.

The steeple is part of the original church built in 1868 and was, in addition to the Berkeley street portico, salvaged when the old structure burned down in the 1960s, Carroll said. The work, which started in June, should be complete by mid-November.

Work at Old South Church, which suffered damage due to the MBTA’s work on the Copley square T-Stop, has been underway since April. About one-third of the exterior of the 130-year-old church is covered in scaffolding, which should be down by October, according to Lois Corman, Project Coordinator at Old South Church. Repointing, when mortar in the masonry work is replaced or restored, on the Dartmouth street wall that cracked is complete, but some stones still need to be replaced or repaired, Corman said. The stained-glass windows in the sanctuary on the Boylston and Dartmouth street side are being cleaned, and deteriorating lead pieces are being repaired. Organ pipes that had to be removed for the sanctuary work to be completed will be reinstalled and tuned in time for Christmas performances, Corman said.

At Trinity Church, dedicated in 1877, the turret on the corner of St. James Avenue and Copley Square Park is being repointed to stop roof leaks, and on the church wall facing the square similar preventative work is being done, said Alex McFerran, Trinity Church’s building committee chairman. Additionally, after seven years the refurbished Christ in Majesty stained-glass window will be returned by the end of September.