Funding To Assist With Restoring Building’s Features
A Jackson Heights church has received a grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy to help restore the house of worship’s masonry and roof drainage system.
The conservancy announced 13 Sacred Sites Grants totaling $200,000 awarded to historic religious properties throughout New York State, including a Robert W. Wilson Sacred Sites Challenge Grant of $25,000 to St. Joan of Arc Church in Jackson Heights.
“Religious institutions are worth saving for their beauty and history alone,” said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. “But maintaining them also allows congregations to provide social service, educational and cultural programs to the wider community. That’s why the Landmarks Conservancy has been proud to help restore hundreds of religious buildings throughout the state for more than 25 years.”
St. Joan of Arc Church was founded in 1920. In 1928, architects Lehman and Murphy designed a Gothic-revival church. Only the ground floor of this plan was completed.
In 1941, architectW. A. Schlusing designed a Italianate-style church, and the building was completed in 1950. The brick and limestone church is boldly massed with gables, a large apse and a rear tower.
At the flanking entrances, interlocking alpha and omega symbols and a fleur-de-lys are inscribed with the commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor.” The sanctuary interior is accessed by stairs.
The interior has wood columns along the aisles, and woodwork continues to the coffered ceiling.
The church hosts concerts several times a year. The elementary school has an afterschool program and a Cub Scout troop, in addition to a weekday preschool.
Applications for the next round of Sacred Sites grants must be postmarked by June 1, 2014. For more information, please visit www.nylandmarks.org.
The conservancy is grateful to the late Robert W. Wilson for his generous support of its Sacred Sites program. His gifts have helped some 120 religious institutions across the state with major restoration projects.
