Historic view

Preservation Plan
Rebuild Project (Due to Fire Damage)

St. Bernard’s Church and Parish House are atypical designs by two of America’s turn of the century’s most important architects. The Church was designed by the firm of Napoleon Le Brun & Sons, while the Parish House came from the offices of Henry J. Hardenbergh. In addition, the Church is distinguished by the most complete cycle in the United States of stained glass windows from the leading English firm of C. F. Kempe Studios. The Church was built in 1897 with an addition added in 1904. It represents the purely English Gothic style of the small country church with a steeply pitched roof, square tower, pointed arched windows and stone masonry construction. The Parish Hall, which sits on a steeply, sloping site was begun in 1913. It is a multilevel building with a T-shape footprint and referred to as “Starved Classicism” or “Starved Gothic” in style, with a large exposed hammer beam ceiling in the Parish Hall.

HBA was hired to complete a Preservation Plan for the two buildings, and a New Jersey Historic Trust HSM Grant was awarded in 2004. However, in October of 2004 the Church suffered a major fire, which has resulted in a major interior and exterior restoration project led by HBA. The rebuild project includes the restoration and code compliance upgrades for the interior of the Church, including repair of the wood truss systems, careful cleaning and restoration of all the fire damaged finishes, new systems, barrier free bathrooms, lighting and a new organ. On the exterior, the restoration includes a new slate roof, stone cleaning, repair, and restoration, as well as, window restoration and landscape work. The intent is to restore the building to its condition prior to the fire. A comprehensive material analysis report was prepared by HBA’s conservator to develop appropriate cleaning and repair techniques. Construction begins in early 2006 and HBA is managing and coordinating the myriad of consultants and the construction administration for this complex project.

Interior elevation assessment (Click to enlarge: PDF)

Paint photo-micrographs

Stair section (Click to enlarge: PDF)