Bell tower restoration has been a major task facing us ever since we began preserving St. Rose.  Thanks to the support and engineering of dedicated volunteers we are proud to have this restoration completed.  This project began in 2010 with the restoration of the lattice and louvers.  Scaffolding was gradually erected to six towers high during the summer of 2011 reaching heights of over 40 feet above the ground.  The 2011 Bell Tower Restoration Photo Gallery reveals the engineering it took to build this structure over several month's time which was initially used last spring during the tuck-pointing project.  Great attention to detail and researching old photographs was required to restore the bell tower back to its majestic past.

Tuck-pointing, or 're-pointing' as is properly called since this is restoration, is among the biggest projects we have ever faced at St. Rose.  We're fortunate to hire a skilled craftsman whose expertise allowed us to both repoint using lime mortar in the joints that had failed and replace ten broken limestones located on the bell tower.  Christoph Henning is a stone carver and restoration specialist from Connecticut who attended our Ice Cream Social last August and expressed an interest in this project to his extended family from Pine Island.  He is originally from Germany and his commissions include the New York Public Library and the Victorian Mansion in Portland, Maine.  It seemed obvious that he was the perfect artisan to lead this project.  We have learned a great deal about historic preservation and restoration of stone buildings form Christoph.  We were able to repoint approximately 50% of the areas that need repointing and replace ten broken limestones on the bell tower before our allocated funds were depleted.  We hope to raise enough money this year to complete this project next summer.

Visit our Photo Gallery to view pictures of this project.