Grant Applications Filed

Building Restoration Update, July 2023

The church has made great progress in restoring our historic building consistent with the recommendations of the Exterior Envelope Conditions Assessment and Master Plan for the First Church in Jamaica Plain.

Tower Restoration Project Completed:  In the summer and fall of 2022, the church completed a major repair to the Eliot St face of the church tower.  Years of water infiltration had opened a multi-story gap between the interior and exterior masonry walls on that face, which takes the brunt of wind and rain intrusion during a Nor’easter.  Working with Spencer Preservation Group and Aniceto Masonry, we filled that gap with new grout and fastened the walls together with bolts.  We were able to bolt the walls together using an innovative system that anchored to the interior of the outer granite wall, completely avoiding unsightly bolt plates or masonry plugs on the outer face of the tower.  The project came in on time and within our budget, and we no longer have the ugly wooden braces holding in the outer granite wall.

This project was generously supported by a $66,000 matching grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission and a $5,000 matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Eliot Street Tower Clock Face Restored:  We had to remove the Eliot St clock face to give the masons easy access to the tower, and we took that opportunity to restore that face, which had deteriorated seriously.  The Henderson Foundation gave us a generous $27,000 grant, which covered nearly the entire cost of that restoration.

Sanctuary Roof Restoration Project:  Our next major step is to reinforce and completely replace the historic slate roof over our sanctuary, which is well beyond the end of its useful life and is actively leaking.  The Boston City Council agreed with the Community Preservation Committee and voted to give First Church a $500,000 grant for our roof project. The Massachusetts Historical Commission also gave the Church a $50,000 emergency grant to support the project. The success of our capital campaign and these grants should position us to complete this project in the summer/fall of 2023.  This will be the largest capital investment in our building since our Parish Hall was built and is an enormous step in preserving the church for our community.  We are also exploring the options of installing snow/ice guards to help keep ice off our accessibility ramp and installing anchor points for a potential future solar power array on the rear quarter of the Holbrook face of the sanctuary roof.

Tower Clock Face Restoration Project:  In July 2023 the Henderson Foundation gave First Church a grant of $64,000 to fund the restoration of the other two tower clock faces on the Centre and Holbrook Street sides.  This very generous grant completely funds this project and is larger than their usual maximum so that we can complete the entire clock restoration. We plan to restore both faces in the summer/fall of 2023.  We hope to restart the tower clock in the winter of 2024 when both the roof and clock face restoration are completed to avoid construction dust and vibrations from those projects interfering with the historic clock mechanism.

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Exterior Envelope Conditions Assessment and Master Plan for the First Church in Jamaica Plain

In November and December 2020, the architectural firm of Spencer, Sullivan & Vogt conducted a careful examination of the “envelope” of our building (outside walls, roofs, doors, and windows) to assess repair needs and develop a master plan for restoring the church building. The resulting report will be a critical contribution to our planning for maintaining the integrity of our building to protect our historic structure and the valuable improvements in which we have recently invested. It will also be an essential support document for a series of matching grant applications that the Standing Committee and Trust recommend that the church pursue to help fund critical repairs.

The document comes in two pieces:

1. The body of the report. This detailed report is available to you using the following links:

• Table of Contents and Executive Summary  
• Part 1 – History and Significance               
• Part 2 – Observations and Treatment Recommendations    
• Part 2 (continued) – Consultant Reports     
• Part 3 – Prioritized Repair Recommendations, with cost estimates and timeframes.

2.  The report appendices. Here you will find pictures, documentation of the Church’s historic status, and other background materials.​

Additionally, click here for a one-page summary of grant and funding opportunities for which the church can apply.

Our building has been the vessel of our church’s history since 1853, and it has weathered the rigors of New England’s climate nobly. This report makes clear that we face important decisions about the stewardship of our church. The features of our building that we love – the sanctuary, our new audio/visual equipment, our historically significant organ, and the acoustic marvel of our parish hall – will not survive if we do not attend to the basic needs of keeping water out of the building. Thank you for your interest in the future of our church

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Supplemental Report on the Tower

In May 2021, we received the final report from SSV on the Church Tower restoration. This supplemental report includes a copy of the latest Tower-only cost estimate, as well as an updated overall cost estimate and an updated set of treatment drawings, that bring the whole picture together. 

You can read the Tower Report here.

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