Ongoing restoration inside the ornately decorated Church of the Ascension has revealed layers of rich history.
Amidst a lengthy four-part refurbishing, initiated in part to repair damages and replace an aged roof, the church’s remarkable interior is now the focus of the project. Today, towering scaffolds stretch up over the altar as artists and workers push to restore the church’s original colors and intricate decorations.
A house of worship since 1887—when Bavarian immigrants dedicated the church on the Catholic Feast of the Ascension—the Roman Catholic Church of the Ascension, located on West 107th Street just off of Broadway, has been an active fixture on the Upper West Side for 112 years. Though attempts were made between the 1950s and the 1980s to make over the church in a simpler, more modern style, the building exists today as a relic of the institution’s history. The original Victorian motifs and stencil work were painted gray, and then white and brown—so the building physically reflected reform in Catholic doctrine. Today, the interior sparkles with color.
Water damage in the 1990s sparked a renewed interest in the church’s restoration. “I kept raising the issue, and two parishioners here became involved in a very serious way,” Reverend John Duffell, pastor of the church, said. To finance the project, parishioners collectively pledged $1.2 million in a massive fundraising campaign that is still amassing donations.
The first phase of the project was an exterior restoration, and the second phase restored the side aisles. Now, the third phase focuses on a revival of the original interior. The church was built in a “Romanesque revival style, with 19th-century tastes,” Il Kim, GSAS ’09, said. Kim, a doctoral candidate in Columbia’s art history & archaeology department, has volunteered his time and architectural knowledge to spearhead the restoration.
Renovation of the interior front and altar area of the church includes the uncovering of a beautiful fleur-de-lis pattern in red, gold, and green, a delicately colored stencil work that imitates the patterns of fabric in historic European Catholic churches. “This is almost something you would see in Paris, London, or Rome, but it’s here in New York City and we need to reveal it,” painter and restorer Adam Miller said. The work is slow and painstaking in detail. On an average day, about two pieces of the pattern might be restored to their original state and color. It’s difficult to reveal the subtleties of the original paint, but “more difficult to reproduce the 19th-century character,” Kim said.
Aside from the stencil work, murals above and beside the altar were so darkened that their iconography was totally indecipherable. Columns extending to the church’s vaulted ceiling were dark brown before they were restored to their original white. Four angel figures on canvas that originally hung above and to the sides of the altar disappeared at some point in the church’s history. They were likely ripped off and sold, but they will be recreated as the rest of the church’s decorations are restored. Miller said that this is one of the most ornate churches in the area, but that other beautiful church interiors are also hidden beneath years of grime and paint.
Fundraising to continue the refurbishing in the current economic climate has been “different, but most of the money was collected prior to the economic downturn,” Duffell said. The restoration of the interior walls and altar decor will hopefully be completed by Easter of this year. The church still needs to raise money for the restoration of the ceiling’s painted decoration and electrical work, but despite the enormity of the project, “it’s better to reveal the history than to cover it with paint,” Kim said.
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