Needed work on stained glass led to other projects
By John Tredrea, Special Writer
Work on a major renovation of St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church at 44 Bridge St. in Lambertville is going well and expected to be complete in late October.
"The work is about half finished," said Tana Dimino, one of the parishioners involved in the renovation. "A lot is being done — it’s a two and half million dollar project."
Vincent Piacente, the architect for the renovation project and also a parishioner of St. John’s, said the church building is "about 115 years old. Church services are being held in our school, next door to the church, while the work on the church is being done."
Mr. Piacente said the decision to undertake a major renovation "was a process that began several years ago, when we began to explore in-depth maintenance issues in the church. We agreed that the interior needed to be repainted."
A turning point, he said, was finding out the condition of the stained glass in the church.
"The stained glass — and there’s a great deal of it in the church — was in advanced need of repair," he said. "The lead in the windows had de-formed and become quite soft. This resulted in bowing of the glass. Experts guessed that a lot of the windows would not have survived one more summer cycle."
Mr. Piacente said that, in order for workers to reach all the stained glass in the church, "an immense amount of scaffolding had to be erected."
Seeing all that scaffolding drove home the notion that, having gone that far, the church should address other issues, some of which involved the need for scaffolding, as well.
"We decided to deal with lighting, finishes, details, floors, pews and acoustics," Mr. Piacente said. "All the lighting will be LEED (energy efficient). Roan Associates, based in Pittsburgh, has helped us with the painting. Much of it is multi-layered in a way that will give it a soft look."
Artists of Romanian descent are doing the painting, which includes several new murals and new work on the Stations of the Cross in the church.
"The lighting will have electronic controls that will enable us to suit the light to different types of occasions," Mr. Piacente said.
The pipes from the church’s original organ are being cleaned and will be-installed.
"It’s a beautiful organ to see," Mr. Piacente said. "For sound, we’re bringing in a very good electronic organ. It’s important that it be very good, because, as anyone who’s been in our church can tell you, its acoustics are phenomenal."
A handicapped-access restroom will be installed.
"Outside the church, we’ll improve accessibility with a new ramp system and new doors," Mr. Piacente said.

