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.