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On January 18, 2005, the first Baptist church in Jamaica Plain was destroyed by fire. With a suddenness that is difficult to comprehend, we lost our historic, civil war era house of worship, a nationally treasured E&GG Hook organ, and one of the community's beacons of faith.
In May 2008 we 'broke ground' on our new building. Working with the Office of Michael Rosenfeld, architects and Marc Truant Construction our project is moving forward!
The spring and summer have been really busy. The groundwork has now been laid! The underpinning is done (concrete underneath the foundations of the walls), as well as duct work and infill (dirt & gravel filling the basement). Also, the masonry on the gables (the peaks on the church) has been repaired.
This month has seen some real changes on our building! The upper wall on the Myrtle St. side has begun coming down and inside the building is now one big hole. The floors are gone and the demo team is removing the giant old furnace that was anchored in the basement. Once the gutting is complete, the rest of the upper walls on either side of the building will be removed. After that we should begin to do underpinning and concrete to reinforce the foundation.
As you may have noticed, construction has begun in earnest with shoring going up and the building getting a final clean out along with some demolition of interior walls. In November we expect the demo to continue with the removal of sanctuary and wing roofs, the tops of the side masonry walls and the sanctuary and wing floors. Also this month there will be some carpentry work beginning on the wing roof. It’s exciting to see real progress being made. Our hope is that by this time next year we’ll be back in the building, fully using the first floor. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our site manager, Richard Connors at: 617-839-9093.
Early this summer we learned that the mortar on the tops of the side walls was in really bad condition and needed to be taken down to the floor of the sanctuary level. This meant that shoring and demo documents had to be reworked. Much time was spent on reorganizing the paperwork. We did begin site work on a dry well and proceeded to do preparation for future utilities. Additionally there was preparation for the steel shoring that will arrive in the near future. The tent was removed to make more space
9:45 a.m. Christian Formation for Adults & Children
11:00 a.m. Worship in our renewed home at 633 Centre St, JP.
We are a welcoming & affirming congregation.
*Wednesday Program
7pm
Kids Music & Mission
Adult Study: May 19
Is Religion Good for Your Health?