La Farge Restoration Fund

Restoration

The La Farge Restoration Fund sponsored several studies of the church building and the La Farge interior art prior to restoration. In addition, in the early 2000’s, the Fund partnered with Preserve Rhode Island to host a first Rhode Island church restoration training by Partners for Sacred Places, an experienced nonprofit from Philadelphia. The key strategic actions which have resulted included the application for National Historic Landmark status, the transfer of the properties from the congregation to a stewardship nonprofit—the La Farge Restoration Fund—and bricks and mortar projects which help to secure the building’s envelope for the eventual restoration of the La Farge windows and interior painted surfaces.

Studies include

1) A Phillips study (1986) of the painted surfaces by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, now called Historic New England.
2) An in-depth evaluation of the placement and condition of the John La Farge windows (1998), by JLSloan Consultants in Stained Glass.
3) A Basic Conditions Report (2010), which found the main church building to be structurally sound, by Northeast Collaborative Architects; including an engineering evaluation of the exterior brownstone, structural integrity and building systems by Structures North.
4) A study of painted surfaces (2013-14), including new reveals in the sanctuary; Canning Studios.

In 2011-2012, the project was designed, then placed before the Newport Historic Review Commission for its review and its approval. The following year, the La Farge Restoration Fund received grants from the Alletta Morris McBean Charitable Trust and the van Beuren Charitable Foundation to complete a restoration of the 150-year old slate roof on the Sanctuary. Interior membrane support structures were rebuilt as part of the project. Joseph Gnazzo Company was the general contractor for the project under the supervision of Architect Mohamad Farzan of NewPort Architecture, LLC.

The following decade witnessed the replacing and upgrading all fire safety and electrical systems. The original 1857 Joseph Wells-designed circular brown roundel stained glass windows of the façade were replicated having suffered considerable areas of loss. which are in a tenuous condition. Interior ceiling plaster was consolidated where loose and the west end of the sanctuary s ceiling and upper walls was returned by John Canning & Co. art conservators to its original La Farge ground color including the replication of deteriorated gilded borders. Conservation of opalescent glass nave windows was begun with Welton/O’Neill glass studio and the south upper gallery windows and their wooden frames were restored by Serpentino Stained Glass under the supervision of consulting specialist Julie Sloan.
Exterior repairs were made when essential to the exfoliating brownstone masonryand the approach walkways and steps. An ADA-compliant access ramp was built to the North Tower entrance and retrofitted period door. The exterior envelope of the 1907 parish hall structure, attached to the sanctuary’s east end, received a new roof, new cedar shingles, gutters, sashes and windows.
Ahead, a fire prevention system must be installed for the former sanctuary and parish hall before the space can hold public assemblies. An DA-compliant restroom will be added to the entrance vestibule and electrical systems upgraded in the artist studios. The priority will then shift to completing the interior mural and stained-glass restoration campaign. A future eventuality would be the stabilization of the exterior brownstone, the recreation of the missing steeples, toppled in the 1938 Hurricane, and the restoration of the original 1850s Hook & Hastings organ.

Restoration Progress

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