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St. Philip's Church to Celebrate the Completion of its New Roof
Entire Community Invited to Special Service on Sunday, September 16
By Rev. Francis Geer
The congregation of St. Philip's Church in Garrison is inviting the entire community to join in celebrating the completion of their new church roof at a special service on Sunday, September 16 at 10:30am. The roof project was undertaken this past summer by St. Philip's and Clemco Construction of Irvington, New York.
St. Philip's was founded as a parish in 1770. The present church building was constructed in 1862. It was designed by noted church architect Richard Upjohn, who was then a Garrison resident and a member of St. Philip's. Upjohn's design featured a beautiful two-toned slate roof. After more than 140 years, the roof had started to show some wear, especially in its copper underpinnings. Some slates were missing or had been repaired with mismatched new slates and there was leaking and water damage to the interior of the church.
Clemco was hired to strip the original yellow and purple slates off the entire roof, saving as many of these irreplaceable slates as possible. They would then place a new snow and ice guard lining over the roof's original wood under planking and reproduce Upjohn's design using the original slates. New copper finishing work would be provided, including crowns, gutters, a beautiful cricket between the church roof and the bell tower and a series of elegant scuppers to carry water away from the granite foundation of the church.
The Clemco crew, led by owner Tom Clemmens, began work on April 1. They were able to save enough of the original slates to reproduce Upjohn's design on the entire side of the church facing Route 9D and the entire complicated roofline surrounding the church's chancel area. The back side of the church, facing away from Route 9D, was recovered using newly quarried slates that reproduce Upjohn's design but feature somewhat different colors. The quality of Clemco's copper work is extraordinary. The brightly shining roof ridge lines and gutters are clearly visible from the road as you drive by, but to really appreciate the work you have to get close to the church itself and look at the beautiful stair step flashing cut into the granite sides of the church and details such as small copper stars that are blended into the gutter system.
Most of the work on the roof itself was completed with the help of an enormous cherry picker that was a constant sight in the churchyard (much to the chagrin of a few summer brides) from April through August. An interesting detail of Clemco's work is that an aluminum cross that obviously didn't belong on the church roof was removed as the slates were being stripped off in the first stage of the project. It had been placed there many years ago to cover the original flue for an old woodburning stove that had been used to heat the church in the nineteenth century. Although the flue opening, without the aluminum cross, has been recovered for the time being, its rediscovery creates the possibility that that old stove could make its reappearance some time in the future.
In this era of environmental consciousness and sustainable living, it is said that the 'greenest' buildings are those that last the longest. In a disposable culture, St. Philip's Church, with its granite walls, wooden pews and slate roof stands as a monument to the environmental consciousness of our ancestors one hundred and fifty years ago. Hopefully, with its newly renovated roof and an energetic congregation, St. Philip's will continue to be green and growing for another 150 years. Please come join us to celebrate the past, present and future on Sunday, September 16.
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