wfn.org | Phoenix rising: Burned-out NJ church chooses architect to help it rebuild

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Note #7362 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

31-July-2002
02275

Phoenix rising

Burned-out NJ church chooses architect to help it rebuild

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - A Presbyterian church in northern New Jersey that was destroyed by fire last January has taken a big step toward rising from the ashes.

The West Side Presbyterian Church of Ridgewood, NJ, has chosen an architectural firm - Herbert S. Newman & Partners, of New Haven, CT - to lead the congregation in designing and rebuilding its gutted sanctuary.

West Side announced the decision on July 16 after its board of trustees and its rebuilding committee signed off on the plan.

Newman & Partners will completely rebuild the 82-year-old, Gothic-style stone sanctuary near Hackensack, as well as its auditorium, worship space, meeting rooms, choir-rehearsal rooms and its full-service commercial kitchen and dining room. 

"It is agreed by almost everybody  that we are going with a traditional church structure," said the Rev. Kent Smith, associate pastor of Christian education and youth at the 1,500-member church. "That seems to be a strong feeling throughout the congregation. So if it's not Gothic, it will be something very close."

West Side parishioners, using space volunteered by neighboring churches and synagogues, have maintained church programs without interruption - worship, Christian education and mission projects. Its activities are scattered among 13 sites in four towns. Many of the contributing congregations are themselves one-time victims of fires and other disasters.

Last Easter, about 1,400 West Side members and friends attended services in an auditorium at Immaculate Heart Academy, a Catholic girls' school in nearby Washington Township. That's where the church's Sunday morning services and church school have been held since the fire.	

"The congregation is still strong and responding well to everything," Smith said. "All of our programs and activities are going ahead full steam."

The actual start of construction is "several months down the road," said Emily P. Aumiller, West Side's communications chair. "We expect some preliminary plans from (the architectural firm) in about three months, and after that you have to have final plans."

Aumiller said a spokesperson for Newman & Partners expects to seek bids for sanctuary work in about 15 months, and it will be at least three years before the congregation is in its new building.

The Jan. 8 fire, caused by an electrical malfunction and battled by 11 area fire departments, caused damage estimated at more than $8.5 million. At the time of the fire, Aumiller said, West Side had just completed a $3 million renovation.

The adjacent Christian education building, built in 1958, sustained serious water and smoke damage. It is being rehabilitated and is expected to be in use by year's end.

"We are currently spread out over 13 different locations and by having our educational building back, we'll be able to reduce that by a lot, down to just three or four locations," Smith said. "That will make all of our lives easier, and give us again a central place for our congregation to call home."

In the weeks after the fire, prayers, offers of assistance and contributions to a rebuilding fund poured in from all over, by telephone, mail and email, and through the church's Web site, www.westside.org.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) sent $10,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to West Side just after the fire, which attracted local and national media attention.

More recently, nearly 300 members of the congregation, the largest in Palisades Presbytery, participated in a series of meetings about how the church would be rebuilt. The architects will receive a detailed report of congregational input.

"There was a lot of interest  in finding a way of expanding the sanctuary within the same footprint, because we're restricted to that by the village," Smith said. "They've got some really good ideas, and the congregation is very open to making whatever changes are necessary. But they still want it to have the same look and feel as the old building."

Bill Blackford, the chair of West Side's needs and design committee, said Newman & Partners has directed a variety of private and public projects throughout the United States, establishing a national reputation for new-building construction as well as renovation and restoration. He said it is best known for its institutional work and has won more than 60 design awards.
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