Saint John's historic St. John’s Church, better known as ‘Stone Church,’ is getting a facelift. With teams working on the nearly 200-year-old church’s façade and tower for the next seven weeks, it’s a rare renovation that many Maritime churches haven’t been receiving lately.
Established in 1823, the Anglican church is one of the oldest in the city – requiring much-needed work.
"When we go up on the tower there's stones that are literally ready to fall out, and there's other areas that are actually in really good condition,” says mason Brian Frost. “So we're just doing sort of a patch job on fixing stuff up that's the worst of it."
With project costs amounting to about $90,000, the church is funding the renovation entirely.
“We realized that we were gonna need to do work on the front facade and the tower,” says St. John’s Church warden, Mark Slader. “If we weren't proactive, at some point, it would be a dangerous situation."
The church was previously renovated in 2015, with the interior being completely renovated over an 18-month period. The congregation then moved back into their newly-updated facility in the fall of 2016.
Meanwhile, teams working on the project express excitement for the opportunity to work on the historic building – noting the chance to work on iconic structures such as St. John’s Church doesn’t often present itself.
"There are a fair amount of brick and stone buildings in the area, but you don't always have the opportunity to restore them," says bricklaying apprentice, Katherine Card.
"It's awesome to work on old buildings,” says Frost. “There's so much history and spirit to them, and it's just really neat to try to keep that spirit going.”
With files from CTV’s from CTV Atlantic’s Laura Lyall
