Grace Episcopal Church

This 1883 gothic revival church received an upgrade to the existing Nave and Chancel to fit the needs of the new Casavant Freres organ which was fabricated for the church in Quebec, Canada.  The new pipe organ required many functional and stylistic changes including the chancel platform which was changed to have a semicircular front and was clad in pink Tennessee marble. There was a diamond of encaustic tile installed under the baptismal font down the Nave’s center aisle.  The encaustic tiles’ color and layout were modeled after  the existing historical encaustic tile in the Narthex of the church. Liturgical furnishings were altered/upgraded to fit the Sanctuary’s design and function following the organ’s installation. Several of the pews were cut or reconfigured to fit around the new home of the baptismal font and the new Chancel platform. Alongside the organ is a new altar, credence table, aumbry, and pedestals, which were installed on the new Chancel platform. While many liturgical furnishings were replaced, the original pulpit, altar railing, lectern, and gothic clergy chairs were saved for reincorporation into the new design.   A new dumbwaiter was installed to carry the sacraments for communion from the Undercroft (basement) of the church to the Chancel. In the Undercroft, structural reinforcements were installed to support the new platform’s weight and to prevent deflection. These reinforcements included structural columns and sistering LVL's on either side of the existing joists and were completed before the upgrades to the sanctuary began.