Scott Loring, of Loring and Son Masonry Restoration, shows gaps in mortar that need to be repointed inside the steeple of St. James Episcopal Church in New London, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Bruce Burroughs, of Loring and Son Masonry Restoration, looks at gaps between stones that need to be repointed with mortar inside the steeple of St. James Episcopal Church in New London, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Scott C. Loring, superintendant and foreman of Loring and Son Masonry Restoration, pulls out one of a few loose brownstones Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, in an area that needs to be replaced and repointed with mortar inside the steeple of St. James Episcopal Church in New London. (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Loring and Son Masonry Restoration has inspected the steeple of St. James Episcopal Church in New London, as seen on Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

A corner inside the steeple has water damage, Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, but Loring and Son Masonry Restoration found that it can be repaired while inspecting the steeple at St. James Episcopal Church in New London (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

Scott Loring, right, and his son, Scott C. Loring, of Loring and Son Masonry Restoration, look at a wall Friday, Feb. 2, 2024, in the steeple of St. James Episcopal Church in New London (Dana Jensen/The Day)
Buy Photo Reprints

New London ― Less than a week after the spectacular collapse of the First Congregational Church in downtown New London, a drone buzzed around 156-foot tall bell tower at the historic St. James Episcopal Church.

St. James Priest-in-Charge Denise Cabana said that despite repairs performed at the nearly 175-year-old church on Federal Street about 20 years ago, parishioners were understandably shaken by what happened Jan. 25 just blocks away, when the First Congregational Church’s roof and stone steeple tumbled to the ground.

“Our bell tower has been looked at several times but even with that, because of what happened, it was, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe we should take a look again,” Cabana said. “People are a little anxious.”

The downtown church collapse has brought into sharp focus the age and size of other churches around the city, which are some of the oldest buildings in the city being maintained by organizations with limited funding.

“There is a limit to what churches, with their dwindling congregations, can handle,” Ralph Anderson, chairman of the St. James building and grounds committee, said.

“But there’s some thing you’ve got to do because if you don’t there will be consequences,” Anderson said.

New London Mayor Michael Passero said Thursday the city plans a series of conversations with the owners of other historic structures around the city.

“We would look for some reassurance from the property owners that they have some proof that their structures have been inspected and are structurally safe,” Passero said. “We are going to proactively request any data, inspection reports, that some of these property owners have. It’s not only churches.”

After the initial data collection, Passero said that if the city is not comfortable it will follow up and work with the owner to ensure a proper inspection is completed to ensure structural integrity.

Cabana said there was extensive repointing done at St. James, including in the bell tower, when the church addressed deteriorating conditions in 2000. Cabana said a second look might go a long way to ease concerns of the people walking in and out of the building.

A crew from New-London-based Loring & Son Masonry Restoration that had brought a drone earlier returned Friday to climb the stone dust-covered stairs into the bell tower and get closer look. Loring & Son Vice President Scott Loring said he took photos and will make an assessment on the work needed in the coming days. Loring & Son had in 2000 and 2012 performed exterior restoration work on the church’s steeple and bell tower but had not worked inside previously.

Loring is currently performing the work at St. Mary Church at 70 Central Ave. in Norwich, a multi-year project to restore the church tower.

Loring said he’s received multiple calls following last month’s church collapse.

Up the street from St. James , at the 150-year-old Second Congregational Church at the corner of Broad and Huntington streets, Miracle Temple Pastor Larry DeLong said he has been fielding phone calls from around the U.S. from people who thought it was his church that collapsed. The two buildings are similar in appearance.

Miracle Temple bought the building for $1 in 2013 from the shrinking Second Congregational Church congregation, in a move DeLong called a “blessing” for his congregation. It has been a struggle, however, keeping up with the costs of maintenance and updating things like old plumbing, electrical and heating systems while looking forward to major repairs on the stone building.

In 2023, DeLong said the church completed a comprehensive analysis of the building, including its steeple, while renewing insurance on the structure. The church was able to complete the analysis thanks in part to a $20,000 federal grant.

The inspectors found the building to be structurally sound but in need of repairs and updates. Miracle Temple Chief Operating Officer Constance Taylor said the steeple is not in danger of collapse, but does need work to the tune of at least $100,000 that includes patching some leaks. In total, the church expects it will need more than $1 million for all of the suggested repairs at the church.

“We don’t have that kind of money. That’s the problem,” Taylor said.

The church has started a fundraising campaign and applied for grants to defray costs of the needed repairs. As a way to generate income, Miracle Temple also rents out space to a Spanish church, to several musicians and to a city youth playgroup. The church also has a grant writer. The congregation has between 70 and 100 people and is collecting building maintenance funds online at www.miracletemplechurchct.org.

“We’ve been just trying to research grants that could help us with the repairs to the church so we can maintain it,” DeLong said.

The State Historic Preservation Office is among other organizations that fund preservation work on religious properties. Others include Preservation Connecticut and Partners for Scared Places. St. Mary Church in Norwich, for example, received a $220,000 grant from the State Historic Preservation Office towards an estimated $1.5 million worth of repairs.

There are some success stories around the city, where repairs were prompted by the discovery of problems.

In 2008, the pastor of the St. Mary Star of the Sea Church walked into the 10 Huntington St. church to find a chunk of granite had fallen from the ceiling and crashed into a handicapped access ramp.

The Rev. Robert Washabaugh, in an interview with The Day in 2009, said “it looked like a bomb had been dropped.”

It was a signal that the oldest Catholic Church in southeastern Connecticut was in dire need of repairs. What followed was a multi-year campaign to raise enough funds to make repairs on the church. An assessment of the 150-year-old building determined that water had seeped into the joints between the granite blocks, undermining the mortar and pushing out some of the stones.

The cost of the repairs at St. Mary in New London was estimated to be $600,000 at the time when the church started fundraising. A representative from the church was not available to comment on the final cost.

Similar problems were found at St. Joseph Church on Montauk Avenue, where civil engineer and parish member Ted Olynciw , a member of the church’s building committee, said the church surveyed the building to find major problems in the bell tower.

“At the time the church had a steeple,” Olynciw said. “When we got up there to examine it, we found it was so badly deteriorated we never rebuilt it.”

The St. Joseph Church issues were identified in 2014 after the problems at St. Mary were discovered, Olynciw said. Both churches are part of the Diocese of Norwich, but raise their own funds for building maintenance and repairs.

“Really, granite will last forever. It’s the matter of the mortar that was used back then. A lot of these old churches require repointing,” Olynicw said.

At St. Joseph, Olynicw said scaffolding had been in place around the bell tower. The tip of the bell tower, which rose 40 to 50 feet above the church, was taken down piece by piece as part of the repairs. Vinyl fencing now hides the bells from view.

He said the project took a year and cost $1 million for the steeple and about $1.8 million for the renovations to the rest of the church.

“We just said to ourselves, ‘We did the right thing by doing preventative maintenance as we saw the need,” Olynicw said. “We’re fortunate.”

g.smith@theday.com

steeple articles