We work on a lot of buildings with small congregations. We’ve rebuilt churches with fewer than ten active members, and nary a millionaire among them. Most building committees rely on a combination of grants and community contributions to reach their fundraising goals. How does a tiny community raise the admittedly significant capital to restore a steeple when many congregants have long-deferred repair plans at their own homes? The answer lies somewhere in re-establishing the centrality of these places within their communities, to the secular and devout alike. It’s easy to appreciate the solemn presence of a spare steeple amongst the foliage of a sleepy Maine village; it’s harder to imagine how to transform that appreciation into funds to pay for its preservation.
We’ve been so busy over the past year that we’ve neglected to shed light on the impressive fundraising efforts put forward by our clients to support their projects. Below are links to better coverage than ours.
East Derry Belfry, rigged and ready
First Parish Church in East Derry has come a long way; they’ve rebuilt their entire foundation and undercarriage and a multi-stage clock tower more than 100′ tall. On November 2, their Story of the Steeple dinner raised about half the funds needed to restore the clockworks. The Union Leader covered the event, here. Elsewhere on the internets, Judy Hayward interviewed Arron about the project and our process. Her extensive quoting of my blog post on the subject reminded me that I need to do a better job copy-editing, sheesh.
The last bell to leave the Revere Foundry leaves its perch. Photo by Scott Lewis
Benton Falls church will hit 200 in the coming decade. Last year, its steeple was removed in their first step towards preserving it and restoring it to its perch. Since then, eave sills and cornice have been replaced. In October, the 42-member congregation hosted a Harvest Fest to raise funds and build community support for the project. The Morning Sentinel covered the event, here.
Assessing Bell Hill, prior to repairs
Back in July, Bell Hill Meeting House held their 100th annual summer service, following the restoration of that church’s copper dome. In 2020, Bell Hill will embark upon the next phase of their restoration, repairing the truss that supports the rear wall of the steeple. Get at ’em.
In September, the West Auburn belfry was restored to its former perch almost exactly a year after it had been removed. The restoration was funded by Maine Steeples Fund in conjunction with harvest suppers and grassroots fundraising.
We are inspired by the perseverance of our partners in preservation. These multi-year projects require a few individuals to be dedicated to a cause that benefits many. The impact of their efforts is both small and large, concrete and indefinite. It doesn’t take a religious calling to preserve a religious building, but it does take a leap of faith.
Last Thursday, I popped out of bed at 4 am, like Sal on her way to Bucks Harbor. Scott informed me that if I wanted to help remove the Chestnut St Church spire in Camden, I needed to be there by 6:00. By the time I arrived, Scott and Arron had set the rigging. About a third of the way up the spire, eight laminated KD 2x10s poked through the spire like an avocado pit ready to sprout. PTF was hired to direct the spire removal and design a timber-framed transition from the old belfry frame to the new fiberglass spire. We’d worked with the G.C. before on True-Randall farm, Taylor-made Builders are good folks who do high-quality work; so even though fiberglass replacements are not our thing, we got over ourselves because Taylor and his crew are such a pleasure.
This steeple is so tall that a 120′ man-lift couldn’t reach the weathervane on the day we went up there to remove the weathervane (oops). The main church is two full-height stories. Starting just below the main ridge-line, the belfry posts rise 30′ to a plate level just below the clock dials. The original spire rafters penetrate into the belfry, landing on a girt 5′ below the plates. The spire rafters pass through the dial level, behind four 6′ diameter glass dials. Above the dials, the original spire rafters were severed and sistered with relatively light, laminated 2x4s. That repair was performed in the 1990s by a talented and eager Eagle Scout. This go-round, we designed a timber-framed “lantern” that crosses the belfry plates like a crab. Eight 8×8 posts rest upon the lower crab and support a maintenance floor behind the clock faces. The upper lantern plates, or upper crab, extends well into the fiberglass spire, 6′ above the horizon of the clock faces. Four new fiberglass dial hoods will protect the dials, and be structurally fused to the new fiberglass spire. The lantern frame we’re cutting reproduces the telescoped framing levels found in this building and other historic steeples.
Lantern Iso, X-Ray
The model we’d created for the lantern design allowed us to accurately calculate the height at which the rigging would need to be placed in order for the spire to be slightly bottom-heavy as it flew. In fact, once prone in the driveway, the spire balanced like a seesaw on the fulcrum of its rigging. A top-heavy spire might flip mid-air, which would be just as dangerous and scary as it sounds.
Chestnut St Church, Crane, and Rigging
We hung a cage from the main ball of the frame to protect the weathervane from the rigging straps. We linked together the crane operators’ longest cables and our longest rigging straps, to connect the four corners of the metal frame to our rigging beams. The last strap was doubled over, resulting in an eight point pick.
Spire cage
The crane flew the rigging up to the crew on the top of the staging, and we pulled the rigging straps away from the spire as the operator located the ball directly over the weathervane. The rigging was accessed by ladders off the staging, which was less efficient than it was photogenic.
Teamwork
Once the rigging was securely attached, we crawled inside the spire and used saw-zalls to cut first the spire sheathing, then the mast and then all eight rafters. In my experience, the penultimate step of severing the last connections is the most stressful and variable part of the entire crane day. As Arron warned the crew, a forgotten toe nail could prevent the spire from releasing safely and evenly. We were lucky to have a skillful crane operator from Keeley. We wanted the crane to take enough weight, and put enough tension on the rigging to prevent our sawzall blades from binding, but we did not want the spire to bounce or release with any energy.
Witch’s hat with a crown of thorns
Scott and Arron checked in with the operators. When we started cutting the sheathing, the crane had 1500 lbs of weight on the ball. For the mast, 2500 lbs. As the last of the rafters were cut, the crane was taking 3500 lbs. Unfortunately for the spectators on the ground, a safe spire removal looks slow and boring. Unfortunately for my story, the spire released without any hitches. The spire weighed about 8800lbs, which reflects its light framing.
A Bittersweet Triumph
The crane operator lowered the spire safely to the street, and the crew cut the cone into sections small enough to carted away by a pulp truck. The Penobscot Bay Pilot got some beautifully boring drone footage of the removal, and covered the story, here. For more photos of our process, visit our Flickr album.
Over New Years, my intentional friend likes us to sit in a big group and practice “Rose, Thorn and Rosebud.” We say the best thing that happened to us this past year, and the worst, and the thing that we’re looking forward to in the coming year. My rose took so much time that it’s been nearly absent from the blog, but it’s an easy pick: the completion of the Hampton Town Clock Tower. (This is me talking for me, Arron would surely have a harder time choosing. There’s the completion of the first phase of Wood Island, the East Derry undercarriage, Northwood Church and Jennison barn. There’s the installation of the trusses at Troy, and the commencement of undercarriage repairs in Readfield. There’s the long-awaited restoration of the windows in the converted barn that serves as our office, shop and home for Michelle and Arron. Scott Lewis returned to PTF to be our Project Manager, a top contender for blue ribbon). My thorn was losing Joe McAllister to the wilds of Minnesota; I hope his rose was one of projects that he’s since completed out that way.
Hampton Town Clock Tower stands out because it wasn’t the typical repair fare. Instead of repairing a historic building, we re-interpreted one. In 1990, a catastrophic fire destroyed the Odd Fellows Building in Hampton, NH. The only artifact that could be saved was the Hampton Town Clock, and that had been warped by the intense heat. The clock was given to the town by John T. Brown in 1897, with a dial which spelled out “M E M O R I A L G I F T” in place of numerals so that every person who wonders why it’s half past “G” remembers his generosity. Since 2004, a dedicated group of Hamptonians have been working to restore the clock. They wanted the clockworks itself to be on display, in a housing that referenced its original home.
Most people think of a clock as a round face with hands and numbers, but a tower clock is the size of a sideboard, with large bronze gears and a 9′ pendulum that swings below it. The round face is called a dial and might be the least interesting part of the whole contraption. Hampton’s clock is a Howard Round top, which means that the gears sit between two half-round carriages, about 4′ wide, 4′ high, and 2′ deep.
The original tower, built in 1895, was too small for the clock, and was raised twelve feet and rebuilt in 1897. The roof was unique, with cross gable pitches topped by a spire reminiscent of a witch’s hat. The roof and dials perched above a belfry with large open arches on each face, and pilasters on each corner. The committee wanted us to build a standalone clock tower that displayed the clockworks at eye level, referenced the original building, and fit into their budget of just under $100,000. We also learned that the clock would work best if the bell was located beneath it, so that the drive train could be relatively straight, and not be diverted around a large bell. This created our biggest design challenge. We wanted to display the clockworks at eye level, but the clock needed to be located above a bell that stands 5′ high in it’s carriage.
Tower and staging
At first we designed a building that nearly reproduced the belfry, with its open arches and fluted pilasters. We kept the original gables, but eliminated the witch’s hat. We presented the project at the Crit night of the Portland Society of Architects to get their input on the arrangement of clockworks and bell, and ended up getting better feedback about the roof and trim. They encouraged keeping the original roofline and accentuating the timber frame. We learned from the committee that the pilasters didn’t fit into the budget anyway. Ultimately, we arrived at a design that replicated the iconic roofline, over a much simpler box. We enlarged the arches, which echo the round top of the clock, but lost most of the Victorian trim, which took the focus away from the main object anyways. The timber framed floor hovers just above the bell, and is cut away at either window, so that the view of the clock is obscured as little as possible. The bottom of the clock is directly at eye level, so that visitors look up into its workings. One of the architects dismissed the design as looking like a ticket kiosk, which was OK by us, but I think of it as a building-sized display case for a desk-sized clock. The design process was incredibly rewarding, and the inputs from each stakeholder and committee member improved the design. Together we created a building that better fulfills its purpose than we could have on our own.
Slated Roof
Lee Hoagland, Jake Imlay and I cut and fit the frame at the shop. The new clocktower would be erected on the front lawn of the Centre School in Hampton, and we needed to complete as much offsite work as possible before we could work onsite during summer vacation. The foundation and site work was donated by Kenny Lessard by the end of the school year, and we erected the frame in early July. With Scott Lewis and Seth Rowell’s help, we sheathed the building and completed the trim. Portland Glass manufactured and installed the 10′ high arch-framed windows, many thanks to Paul Vermette and his crew. Skip Heal of Northeast Lantern donated a reproduction of the elaborate wind directional. The Heritage Company graciously accommodated our tight timeline and slated the eight peaks and eight valleys in August. In November, the clock was installed and running and we celebrated with the community, including many residents who fondly remembered the original tower and the clock’s tolling.
Hampton Town Clock Tow
While I certainly hope for more new design-build jobs in 2017, my “rosebud” for the coming year is the work we are doing with communities throughout Northern New England to preserve their historic landmarks, and that was the real pleasure of Hampton. We will be collaborating with local contractors in Troy, Readfield and Eastport in the Acworth Model to develop repair plans and share specialized skills. From the committee chair to the on-site carpenter, we are fortunate to work with folks who really care about their neighbors. We work with people who donate a lot of time, knowledge and money to a communal cause: saving the structures that serve as a reminder of our shared history and as meeting places that knit the community together.
The Troy Union Meetinghouse had a crane day last week. The long-leaning steeple was partially dismantled, leaving behind the two front posts to stand like wooden antennae. The entire replacement frame has been cut by a crew of local craftsmen, and will be resurrected before the end of the summer. Read more about the process here, and show your support. If you don’t see a video below, click on the link to watch the story.
Built by Elias Carter in 1821, the Acworth Meetinghouse, with its double lantern spire, is a masterful representation of historic building craft. But by 2008, the building was in desperate need of repair. PTF was called in to give an estimate, but Acworth, NH is far, and endowed already with a number of seasoned carpenters. Arron, along with members of the Acworth Meetinghouse Restoration Project, developed a model by which the Acworth meetinghouse was repaired by local craftspeople who were trained and supervised by PTF in techniques unique to steeple repair, and timber framing. Last month, at the National Preservation conference in Buffalo, New York, the Acworth Meetinghouse Restoration Project was awarded a Preservation Honor Award. Read more about the award here. Now, the Acworth Meetinghouse serves not only as an example of New England’s architectural history, but as an example of how preservation creates jobs, expands skills, and builds community.
