Watch Your Step...

As with any project on a building that has as much history as St. Mary's...you're bound to run into a little problem here and there.

Placing the new threshold steps into the Narthex brought some intersting facts to light. The most important being that the Narthex floor was being held up with little more than grit, spit and a whole lot of duct-tape...(well perhaps it wasn't that bad - however to quote the contractor, "If you had a whole wedding party, I wouldn't suggest they all stand in here at once or they'll end up in the undercroft").

So the Vestry did what any good Vestry does...they voted to approve funds which not only would fix the Narthex floor, but it would also provide a new structure underneath the floor to keep us all safe. In addtion the contractors will be adding a heated mat beneath the floor to warm you as you enter on those cold winter mornings. New tile...rip out some old plumbing that we don't use and quite frankly looked bad, and you got yourself a new Narthex floor that is lovely, warm and safe.

Not too shabby...not too shabby at all...

Another "Step" In The Right Direction

For anyone who has attempted to enter the building from the Narthex on either the west or north side, you may have noticed the bad shape of the steps. This is being addressed as new steps are made and fitted.



The first step on the west side was to remove the destroyed material.

Once that was done, it was discovered how much work needed to be done on the main floor of the Narthex.

As you can see in the two photographs below, the floor is linoleum laid upon plywood set upon wooden two by fours.




So, as with any project where you're working on a building over a hundred years old, problems arise. The building group will be looking at solutions later next week.

But as for now - after much sweat, gnashing of teeth and perhaps a little swearing the block was worked into place. Which is certainly a 'step' in the right direction.

Progress on Our Doors

The doors are starting to look like doors. The battens are being attached to the frames. We have 7-10 rain free days ahead of us; that should allow the work to move forward. Here are some pictures from the workshop of Bryan Parris who is building them.

Rain, rain, go away

It's been a very rainy two weeks in Kansas City and that has pushed work on the doors indoors to the workshop of Bryan Parris, the artisan who is building them.

After two more days with the threat of thunderstorms, we have a long stretch of sunny weather. With any luck we'll have a new door or two installed by the first week of July. We're expecting the masonry restoration to start in the next few days also.

We have planted the flower bed with red vinca for the summer. Here are a couple of pictures.

Amazing Discovery

As you know from last week's posting, the exterior doors of the church are being refurbished. Most of them are being replaced altogether, but a couple of them are being "re-skinned" - having the outer veneers replaced with wood to match the brand-new doors. One of those is the old priests' entrance to the sacristy. It's a tiny door on the northeast corner of the building. Initially, the priest could open it and walk directly into the sacristy from outside. The interior has been remodeled since 1888. The interior floor no longer corresponds to the threshold of the exterior door, so the door is not longer usable as an entrance. Since it doesn't work any more, the plan is to give it the appearance of a door with new veneer and hardware but to save the expense of actually making it functional.

This week the existing "skin" of that door was removed and underneath it we discovered the original 1888 door. It's in remarkably good condition considering its age and the exposure to weather it would have experienced on the north side of the building. Here are some pictures of the door used by Fr. Sword, Fr. Stewart-Smith and Fr. Merrill to enter the sacristy.

To restore the door, our artisans who are working on that project will fill some of the spaces where the wood has rotted, refinish it with a color to coordinate with the new doors and a protective sealant to protect the wood. We'll add hardware and the door will once again be a reminder to passers by of the history of this great building.

Building Work Group - May Meeting

The building work group met on the evening of May 13 with all but one member present. There was a very lively discussion of how renovation of the Parish Hall could affect the work of Downtown Outreach.

One option is the creation of a multi-purpose room on the lower level below the Parish Hall. This room could be used for meetings, choir rehearsal, education, child care, a bride's room and a dining room for Downtown Outreach's Saturday hot lunch program.

There are a lot of questions about what would be required in order to make it possible to serve lunch on the lower level, with the kitchen upstairs. A preliminary floor plan and rendering have been created by Julie Arntson, an associate of Susan Richards Johnson & Associates, architects for the renovation project. Those will accompany an upcoming post on this blog. Discussion of all aspects of the Parish Hall renovation will continue. The meeting last night identified a nubmer of issues requiring additional research and observation.

The original drawings of the church building and Parish Hall created in 1886 by architect William Halsey Wood have been discovered and the Building Work Group enjoyed seeing them at the meeting. Some pictures of those drawings accompany this posting.

Work Begins on the Doors

Work has started on the replacement of the exterior doors of the church building. The new doors are being fabricated of mahogany. It's a painstaking process because each door is of different size and slightly different shape.

The door manufacturer is creating templates from each of the existing doors to serve as a pattern for the new doors. Work is also being done on the door jambs (the frame that the door sits in). Here are some pictures of the work in progress.

The west doors of the parish hall will be installed first. Right now those doors are not usable, but the new set will be and we hope that they will eventually become the "go to" entrance to the parish hall. The remaining doors will be removed and their replacements installed one door at a time.

In addition to replacement of the doors, masonry surrounding the door openings is being restored and several deteriorated doorsteps are being replaced. The masonry surrounding the doors will be tuck pointed and broken or damaged bricks will be replaced with vintage brick to match the existing masonry. New doorsteps are Indiana limestone.

The anticipated completion date for replacement of all of the doors is July 10, 2009.