The pendant lights are back in the nave, fully cleaned and refurbished.
The subfloor of the nave is now fully installed. The material used, over an inch thick, is installed on the diagonal and similar to what would have been used when the church was built. A layer of felt and the finished floor will go on top.
There’s light in the nave and lots of progress to see. The pendant lights, seen above, have been cleaned and are brighter in every way. Atop the pendants, “the hats” turned out to be red under 50 years of dirt. Inside the pendants, a new configuration of bulbs will shine light both up and down creating a much greater sense of light in the nave.
Down below, the subfloor has made all manner of other work feasible. With a stable surface, the moving scaffolding allows workers to finish plaster work, patching, and painting.
More pictures are after the break.
LED lighting on the lancet windows will make them newly visible to passersby.
The adage about finding God in the details will be a major part of the story of the renovation of St. Peter’s Church. Around every corner of the renovated nave and soon-to-be-installed organ will be another small and beautiful detail to behold.
The lancet windows in the former narthex will be just such a detail. For years, they’ve appeared dark from the outside and largely ignored from the inside. However, the positioning of the new organ brought focus to these windows right away.
First, each windows is built around a theme. The one pictured above features “wisdom.” However, the text in the window would have been reversed when visible from the outside. St. Peter’s architects, Fryday and Doyne conceived a plan in which the windows were turned around and then lit from behind by 21st century LED lights. The lights use low voltage, put out barely any heat, and illuminate the windows to passersby in a way never before seen.
In prototype now, the “Wisdom” window makes a beautiful and colorful statement, especially contrasted with the century-old masonry. The rose window, which sits above the lancets, will also be more visible from the outside. New lighting to be installed atop the organ will help illuminate it. These are two examples of ways in which St. Peter’s will be inviting people in to our historic building.
