The United States is filled with historic churches that date back as many as 300 or 400 years. And while most would love to keep these structures in their original forms, because of weather, age and other factors, sometimes elements need to be repaired or replaced to restore them to their former glory.In 2016, the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of the National Historic Preservation Act will occur. Over the past five decades, architects and designers have had to play by the rules of this law to ensure that they didn’t damage or change anything in a historic or landmarked building that would hurt its intrinsic value.
What’s at stake?
According to Joseph Winkelmann, project architect for Larson & Darby Group, an architectural and engineering firm in Rockford, Ill., the Preservation Act places a high premium on the retention of all historic fabric through conservation, maintenance and repair. It reflects a building’s continuum over time, through successive occupancies, and the respectful changes and alterations that are made.
In addition to money, an important thing is learning what timeframe a facility is interested in restoring the building to, as many churches incorporate features from different years—and sometimes even centuries.
“If the building is registered at as a historic site, you need to know what degree it is as each degree has different requirements,” he says. “Certain municipalities may have different restrictions and a particular site may be more historic than another. If it has a high premium of historic content to its history, requirements are much more strict.” Choosing the most appropriate treatment for a building requires careful decision-making about its historic significance, as well as taking into account considerations such as its relative importance to history, its physical condition, proposed use, and mandated code requirements.John Storyk, principal for Walters-Storyk Design Group in Highland, N.Y., has worked on numerous historic churches in his time, and before starting any preservation job, asks this all-important question: “What can we change?”“Sometimes the answer is nothing, I mean not even a doorknob, and sometimes it is more generous,” he says. “It’s all jurisdictional. You have to wrestle with each project and I like to think nothing is set in stone.”
For example, Storyk worked on the 110-year-old chapel at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and there was very little that he was allowed to change because of its landmarked status.“We had the challenge of solving it 100% electro-acoustically,” Storyk says. “The only thing you can do then is rigorous analysis and modeling.”The rules of what can be done or not will vary from space to space, and Storyk has worked on many where larger changes—such as a balcony edge or ceiling—could be redone, and improved for the better.In addition, Storyk reports, thanks to technological advancements, loudspeakers have decreased in size and are more steerable, meaning that they are increasingly being allowed in historic places of worship and sound is better than ever in these spaces.“There isn’t a church in the world where you don’t see a speaker and there you can have some flexibility as far as aesthetics,” he says. “We can show people exactly what it would sound like by us playing objects here, here and here. This is particularly useful in religious environments.”Jeff Wengroff, executive vice president of HE2 Project Development LLC in Rockville Centre, N.Y., is an expert in the area of ecclesiastical building and is in charge of hiring the architects, engineers and contractors who design and complete the work on historic buildings.“Coming from the New York region, most of the worship facilities that are in need of repair, upgrades or other work fall into the older or historic category,” he says. “I need to develop solutions to ensure the integrity of facilities from both a visual standpoint as well as behind the wall infrastructure.”
Understanding the Act
According to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation based in Washington, D.C., the National Historic Preservation Act imposes a mandatory consultation process on a federal level if a project using federal funding or permitting would affect a historic property that is listed or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.Through consultation, the parties seek to avoid, minimize or mitigate the adverse effects of their projects. Adverse effects can be direct, such as destruction or demolition, damage from blasting or construction, incompatible alteration, neglect and deterioration, or physically moving historic structures to a new location. Or they can be indirect, such as visual intrusions, noise, decreased access, increased traffic or loss of setting or context.Many states have a similar process, usually directed by the State Office of Historic Preservation for properties listed on state registers of historic places affected by projects using state funding or permits.###2###Historic buildings are often restricted to what you can do with a façade and a lot of times reinforcements are necessary when not structurally sound, but need to be done without affecting the image of the building. The important thing for an architect or designer is to come up with a plan that keeps the facility pristine.During a recent sanctuary renovation for St. Valentine Catholic Church, Peru, Ill., Winkelmann hired a historic artist to restore the artwork within the church to keep its look as close to original as possible.
Money matters
An important consideration for any historic preservation of a worship facility is the finances—and what resources are already available for construction and rehabilitation, as well as what other sources of funding may be available for the project.“Many organizations face tremendous budgetary challenges, they have to find the funds to properly protect and make modifications to buildings,” Wengroff says. “It is truly a balancing act between maintaining the historic integrity of a building and budget.”In addition to money, an important thing is learning what timeframe a facility is interested in restoring the building to, as many churches incorporate features from different years—and sometimes even centuries.“One of the churches we worked on, there were multiple paint schemes done—one in the early 1800s, one in the late 1800s—and there are various photos throughout the course of the history of the building. The owner had to decide what era they wanted to work towards,” Winkelmann says. “That can be a challenge and one that can take time to figure out.”
Lightning strikes
Bud VanSickle, executive director at the Lightning Protection Institute in Maryville, Mo., says that in many cases, lightning protection was provided for historic properties because of their value and prominence in an area. However, this doesn’t mean the lightning protection system is fully functional anymore, or meets the current requirements of the lightning protection standards.“Lightning protection elements need to be inspected by a certified Master Installer at regular intervals to maintain the system, and a preservation project is the perfect time to make this happen,” VanSickle says. “A specification calling for the lightning protection system for the structure to meet the current requirements will [ensure] continued safety of the structure, internal equipment and people.”When a historic theater is renovated and used for faith-based and community performance, because the conversion will have a different use, a review of the structure for lightning protection is necessary.“
In many cases, insurance carriers will dictate [that] construction of a worship facility calls for installation of a complete system. Structures converted from other [uses] may not have had this requirement,” VanSickle says. “Giving consideration to evacuation of people along with the high replacement cost for electronic systems used in today’s typical worship service gives good reason to protect against potential damage from lightning strikes.”
[Editor's note: From the designerpub.com 2014 archives.]
