From the NY Times:In February, Mr. Kim said that the spires would be taken down and capped as soon as the weather permitted. But the company the church hired never did the job, Mr. Kim said.
About a month ago, United Methodist began working with another contractor who took a different approach.
“He said, ‘Why do you insist on taking them down?’ ”recalled Marie White, who joined the church in 1957. “They can be stabilized and redone.”
This month, that process began: Several concrete blocks were poured in an outdoor churchyard. This week, cables are being attached to the blocks to secure the steeples from four different directions, Mr. Kim said.
“It will stabilize for wind or earthquakes or whatever,” he said.
Stabilizing the spires is cheaper than demolishing them, but it is only the first step in restoring the church, Mr. Kim said: The building needs a new roof and new paint; it suffers from severe termite damage; and it has large cracks that are visible in its facade.
It is unclear how those repairs will be financed.
2 comments:
Is this historic church on the State & National Register of Historic Places? If not, the congregation should apply for such a status through the NY State Historic Preservation Office. It would qualify without a doubt. In addition, The NY Landmarks Conservancy's Sacred Sites Program (Dir. Ann Friedman) may also be of help. It would be eligible for grants to restore features of the church. This combination has been conducted upon numerous places of worship citywide and statewide. There are many case studies.
The old 17th century Quaker meetinghouse in Flushing benefited greatly from a grant through the Conservancy's Sacred Sites program
It is also an NYC (exterior) landmark.
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