Preserving The Building

FOSC’s Mission in Action

FOSC is devoting its resources to make sure that the Stone Church can become and remain a center of community and cultural life for years to come. Our current focus remains stabilization, the steps needed to preserve the building to the point where it is no longer in imminent danger. Therefore, a significant portion of our financial resources are directed to construction repairs and building maintenance.

We have been very fortunate to have received significant support from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, a state agency under the direction of the Secretary of State William Galvin, in the form of four grants between 2015 and 2022. In 2019, FOSC also received a grant from the Johanna Favrot Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately-funded non-profit organization that works to save America’s historic places to enrich our future.

In 2023, we were awarded a matching capital grant for lantern level stabilization by the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund, a program of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, administered through a collaborative agreement between MassDevelopment and the Mass Cultural Council. A grant from Preservation Massachusetts, funded by The 1772 Foundation, supported critical repairs to the roof, and sealing unused chimneys.

These matching grants inspired and made possible individual support which went beyond the matching levels required, allowing FOSC to continue to invest in the future of the Stone Church.

The Plan

Project Architect Philip Warbasse, with support from structural engineer John Wathne and architectural historian Susan Ceccacci, has developed a prioritized master plan for stabilizing the Stone Church. The plan calls for repairs to the steeple, removal of certain trees and other site work to reduce groundwater infiltration. Once the building is stabilized, FOSC directors will pursue steps to support increased public uses of the Stone Church.

The survey team: John Wathne, PE, Structures North; Steve Quinn, Skyline Engineers; Phillip Warbasse, AIA, Warbasse Associates LLC

The Steeple

After sealing out infiltrating water, FOSC’s highest priority in preserving the Stone Church has been the steeple. The towering spire that creates the Stone Church’s signature profile is the only one of three such Elbridge Boyden towers still standing. Erosion of mortar over the years has led to stone cracking and displacement of important structural elements. Two very similar Boyden towers, one in Brattleboro, VT and one in Newport, RI have been rebuilt.

Starting with an assessment in 2017, FOSC proceeded to address masonry and woodwork repairs from the ground floor of the tower to the base of the belfry. We are fortunate that 21st century stone masonry uses advanced technology to clean and seal not only the surfaces where mortar has eroded, but also deep into the stone structure.

Above the areas that have now been repaired, the steeple still displays serious cracking, stone displacement, and eroded mortar joints. The weight of tower and spire is precariously balanced above the repaired areas. Modern stone masonry technology is being applied incrementally up the structure to give the Stone Church life for its present and future service to the community.

Phase 4 Steeple Repairs

Preservation work on the Stone Church Cultural Center’s stone tower has thus far sealed masonry joints in the stone tower from the ground through the belfry level. In 2023, work will continue inside the octagonal lantern level, as FOSC reinforces the tower with steel plates, seals vertical cracks, and reconstructs the interior floor. This fourth phase of stabilization is laying the groundwork for the final stages of exterior masonry repairs.

Also in this period, critical repairs to the main slate roof have been made and unused chimneys have been sealed. Funding for roof repairs was made possible in part by The 1772 Foundation, awarded and administered by Preservation Massachusetts.

As these are matching grants, donor support for Friends of the Stone Church is vital to the completion of these projects. 

Phase 3 Steeple Repairs completed in 2022

In 2022, successful bidder Joseph Gnazzo Company, Inc. of Union, CT completed phase 3 masonry repairs through the top of the belfry (square) level of the steeple and began repairs at the base of the lantern level, where four ‘dormlets’ are located. In addition, they installed a new drain to conduct rainwater out of the tower, protecting its interior from further water damage.

Before preservation construction can continue further up, the tower must be stabilized with interior repairs as described in Phase 4. Phases 1 through 3 were funded significantly by FOSC donors, matched by Massachusetts Preservation Project grants from the Massachusetts Historical Commission, a state agency directed by William Galvin, Secretary of State. Friends of the Stone Church are grateful to the public for supporting this major preservation project to date.

Phase 2 Steeple Repairs Completed in 2020

Steeple Repairs Phase 1 Completed in 2019

The company started work on the tower base in April of 2019. Staging was set up and the first two stones, where highly visible and dangerous cracks were located, were removed to examine the condition of mortar behind them. The structural engineering survey identified twenty-one locations to be cored through the face stone and through the rubble backup stone without penetrating the interior face stone.

When coring was completed, stainless steel pins were fabricated to the depth of each core, inserted and surrounded by pumped-in structural grout. The steel pins and grout have stabilized the mass of interior core stone, which is four feet thick at the tower base. After the structural grout was pumped in around the pins, a face piece of each numbered core was fitted to plug the openings, then sealed with mortar which was blended to match the historic mortar color.

Follow us on Facebook to stay current with our work and coming events that you are making possible!

Friends of the Stone Church and Hardwick Historical Society partner to save historic building

GILBERTVILLE 2015 – Secretary of State William Galvin recently awarded a matching funds contract for $50,000 from the Massachusetts Preservation Projects Fund to the Hardwick Historical Society for emergency stabilization of the 1872 Trinitarian Congregational Church building in Gilbertville.

Unheated for the last two years, the building now needs roof and other repairs. The contents include a historic Johnson & Son organ that was restored and celebrated by a community-based group called “Friends of the Gilbertville Organ,” carved interior woodwork, evocative stained glass windows and historic records related to Gilbertville history. Many of these features, notably the organ, are threatened by humidity and water leaking through the slate roof and through the hand-quarried walls and bell tower and under the foundation.

A proposal was submitted for Emergency Stabilization funding to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State that assists in the preservation of historic properties and places with National Register status. The agreement, which provides MHC funds to seal the slate roof and repair interior areas damaged by water, requires the grant recipient to invest a minimum of $50,000 worth of improvements, funded by contributions or donated services, for stabilization improvements. These include a new zoned heating and de-humidification systems.

https://www.telegram.com/article/20151128/NEWS/151129204