by Bill Tobin
The scaffolding on St. Mary's church on Washington Street and the ongoing paint removal has raised some interesting questions around town. What is going on now, as it seems such a short time ago that the church was extensively renovated?
That renovation increased the size of the church by adding transepts but did not really address the exterior paint problems on the original building. Up to twenty layers of old, cracked and chipped lead paint were painted over at that time rather than being removed. Also, the new transepts have had extensive peeling problems ever since they were constructed, Both of these issues are now being addressed.
The main question on the street seems to be “what color will the church be and what trim color is to be used?” The quick answer is white, white and more white.
The original church building was constructed around 1870 in the traditional New England Wooden Gothic style somewhat prevalent at the time. It is considered an historic treasure and it is the aim of the current restorative process to maintain as much of the original workmanship as possible.
The main project is to remove all lead paint now on the building, such as all the window and door trim work, the buttresses, and the bell tower and expose the original wood. The many layers of lead paint are being removed by vacuum scraping, heat process and chemical peels. This is done by workers wearing protective clothing and under tents.
As in any project on an old building (I know as I live in a circa 1845 house), you accept and expect the unexpected. This is true with this current activity.
The panels on the buttresses by the front doors have separated over the years allowing water to enter and thus causing some unseen wood rot on the rounded moldings abutting the panel.
These moldings have to be replaced and in order to maintain the historic integrity of the architecture they need to be properly duplicated. This is not an easy task. The moldings are no longer available, nor are the craftsmen to fabricate them. The solution was to find a firm to design and manufacture a tool that can make the the identical wooden moldings. This is under contract.
The doors are not original, but were designed to compliment the original structure. They will be refinished in a natural wood tone, similar to the colors in the exterior sign as seen when traveling east on Washington Street .
It is the intent of St. Mary's Pastor, Fr. Mark Coiro, to maintain the historic character of St. Mary's in keeping with the period architecture of the community and to preserve the church for generations to follow.
