12 West 27th St. 17th floor
New York City 10001
phone (212) 337-1002
St. Paul the Apostle is a 115 year-old Catholic church on the Upper West Side. Though the structure was designed by an engineer-priest, it was ornamented by Bertram Goodhue, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Stanford White. The vast basilica, crypt, and rectory support numerous community uses. A master plan sought to solve functional deficiencies with minimal physical interventions.
The first construction project was the installation of an oak and glass entry vestibule against the Great East Door. The addition provides a human-scaled transition into the church, and acts as a weather barrier. Glowing like a lantern, the sleek oak frame with translucent infill was designed to echo the wood paneling of the church. The vestibule was fabricated in a cabinet shop to minimize installation time, thus reducing costs to suit an austere budget.
St. Kostkas is a Roman Catholic parish in Greenpoint Brooklyn. To accommodate their large and active Polish immigrant congregation, two Sunday services are held simultaneously. Unfortunately, both upper and lower halls in the historic church could only be reached via steep front steps. Because many parishioners are elderly (or young mothers with strollers), providing access was deemed critical.
The solution is a new glass and masonry vestibule containing stairs to either side of an open lift. Discretely located to the side, down an alley between church and rectory, it transforms an under-utilized rear yard into a planted gathering space. The new vestibule was designed in the same buff brick and limestone as the rest of the campus, with tall piers and large windows, in a modern gothic style.
Episcopal Church of the Ascension occupies a landmark religious complex on lower Fifth Avenue. The ground floor of the early 19th century gothic-style rectory building contained a cramped Sunday School room, dimly lit and a level below the rear churchyard. Leo Blackman Architects designed a master plan to the school and garden, to improve meeting space, handicapped access, and the separation between public and private use.
The design preserves the character of the rectory by retaining as much existing fabric as possible, with only necessary and efficient interventions. These included excavating the garden, expanding rear window openings for day lighting, and enhancing way-finding and security; hence a very tight small-scale plan is radically improved.
Episcopal Church of the Ascension sought to install a columbarium (an internment space for funerary ashes) within their landmark c1841 Richard Upjohn-designed ediface. We proposed to insert this function within the Fifth Avenue entry vestibule. To remedy dampness in the tower walls, exterior drainage was improved, the eroded brownstone floor was replaced, and a high wood (ventilated) wainscot was installed.
The gothic-revival details of this new wainscot were extended to either side of the entry doors for the columbarium. Its depth is adequate for two urns per niche, and a total of 192 urns can be accommodated. The face of each niche is a solid oak panel, inscribed with the names and dates. Lighting is hidden behind the crenellations to softly wash the ceiling vault.
Episcopal Church of the Ascension is a national historic landmark, designed by Richard Upjohn and built in 1841 on Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village. It was renovated in 1885-9 by Stanford White and John Lafarge. The congregation had undertaken a program of exterior repairs to roof, masonry walls and leaded glass windows.
To prepare for the installation of a new French pipe organ, Leo J. Blackman Architects was hired to oversee the necessary structural changes, complete restoration of the interior plaster and painting, and update the power, audio, lighting, and dimming systems. Working with Evergreene Studios and Preserv (general contractor), the finishes were researched and re-created, and technological improvements were seamlessly installed.