Looking at our church building one would never know that it is actually a brick church with a locally-mined marble façade.
The cornerstone for the dedication was laid in 1896, shown at right. Our buildng has received consistently good care over the decades. Present day renovations include a major 2001 expansion of the original footprint for a new library, meeting space, office space, elevator, additional bathroom and clean, dry religious education space in the basement.
We have also re-pointed the masonry, tightened up the building envelope, added insulation and have an efficient natural gas hydronic heating system.
A special project during the past decade was to restore the beautiful stained glass windows that we are fortunate to have. Another project undertaken at the request of our former minister, David Blanchard, was to remodel the minister’s office.
More recently, a 2012 capital campaign provided funds for an entire new roof plus major improvements to the church sanctuary and kitchen. Fundraising was so successful that $50,000 was also added to a Capital Reserve Fund for future capital renovations or emergencies.
The Building and Grounds (B&G) Committee has historically been a very dedicated hands-on group that oversees a wide range of minor and medium level maintenance projects. The church hires a custodian for regular weekly cleaning but does not employ a building superintendent. This means that the B&G Committee, along with additional projects directed by our Environmental Action and Memorial Committees, handles many regular building needs and oversees well-attended Work Days in the spring and fall.
Congregational regard for and support of the appearance and function of the church building and landscaping is at a very high level. The 2012-2014 Under One Roof campaign which surpassed it’s $250,000 goal by $20,000 was preceded by two other successful fundraising efforts; one to refurbish the aforementioned series of large stained-glass windows in our Sanctuary, the other to restore the historically significant 1866 Andrews Tracker Organ, made in Utica, N.Y.