Historic preservation and renovation: First Presbyterian Church is updating masonry on bell tower
Jan. 31—If you drive by First Presbyterian Church (FPC), on 330 West Main Street in downtown Richmond, you might notice a little bit of scaffolding that is going around the bell tower.
The third incarnation of the church building on that property is looking to update some masonry around the belltower roof. Also, the church is looking to repair the parapets and the mortar that is up there.
Due to the May 2023 windstorm that came through Richmond and blew over the fence at Roy Kidd Stadium (along with damaging several other parts of Richmond), the staff at FPC realized that some work needed to be done on the local historic edifice.
"The mortar, particularly around the thinnest parts of our bell tower, are beginning to suffer decay," lead minister Rev. Curtis T. Christian IV told the Register.
He said that though the parapets are stable, they are becoming less stable due to the decaying mortar.
"For the sake of trying to preserve the history of our church for another 100 years, we are going to go up, remove the parapets and capstones, preserve the bricks and capstones, re-mortar and put the parapets back in place," Rev. Christian said.
FPC has been on that property at 330 West Main for almost 200 years, first landing on that spot in 1828. There have been two other incarnations of the same FPC congregation on that property, with the most recent building to house the congregation finished and opened in 1921.
As currently stated by Christian, FPC was the first church in Richmond. The oldest church in the county is also in Richmond, Tates Creek Baptist. However, the latter church was annexed into the city limits, according to Christian.
The bell is the original bell from the 1858 incarnation of FPC and is hand cranked.
"We ring it whenever we feel like it sometimes," Christian said.
Much of the woodworking and architecture in the sanctuary dates back many decades. The parapets are and brick are also original to the building.
A trip to the top
I had the opportunity to scale the bell tower up to the parapets with Reverend Christian on Thursday to see what was going to be replaced.
"We feel a certain, not only religious, but community responsibility, being in the historic district to try and preserve this history as best we can," he said.
The tower, being original to the current iteration of the building (again built and finished in 1921), has ladders to get up to the 166-year-old bell and the 103-year-old parapets. I will warn you, this climb is not for the faint of heart.
The first climb is a single story from the balcony level into a shadowy purgatory between the sanctuary and the open air room housing the bell.
There you have to make a 180-degree turn because the five rung ladder to get up to the ladder before the roof is behind you. A picture would not do it justice (nor could I take it with my fear of heights).
In that open air room, you can see the bell up close and personal. The final climb is a pretty easy climb to get up to the parapets. At this point, you're roughly 60-70 feet above Richmond's historic downtown at FPC, which stands on a hilltop.
Rev. Christian talked about if this tower was here in the 1850s and 1860s, you could see the majority of the Battle of Richmond play out. FPC's second incarnation, according to Christian's research, was the only church to not be gutted and turned into a Civil War emergency hospital for the wounded during the battle.
The rooftop, once there, offers prime views of Eastern Kentucky University. On a clear day, you can see clear to Lexington's downtown where the Fifth-Third building stands at the center of the Lexington Financial Center. The view is truly one of a kind.
Now, the funding for this project is coming from a very generous endowment that was given to FPC. Without any weather snags, Christian hopes to have this project done by April.
