July 3, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Hill Baptist Church completes first phase of renovations
by Kristin Pazulski

A worker repairs the bell tower of the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church. (Photo by Erin Vertreace)

Neighbors of the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church may have missed the hourly ringing of its bell for the past few weeks. The bell, an integral part of the church since its last structural renovation at the turn of the century, has been silent for about month while workers from the Nickles Contracting firm repaired the bell tower, the first phase in an estimated $1.5 million renovation project on the church’s nearly 175-year-old building.

The church building was erected in 1835, initially as a one-story, small meeting space for a group of 17 baptized members to gather. According to the church’s history, it was the first organized church in Chestnut Hill, arriving 10 years before the Methodists established the Hill’s second church.

At first there was no building. But after a few months of meeting without a physical church of their own, church members made plans to purchase and build on the plot of land where the building now stands — on the crossroads of two major highways at the time, now Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike.

The first cornerstone was laid on May 23, 1835, and in August, the first services were held in the building, which was only 40 by 45 feet in size.

Since its inception, the Chestnut Hill Baptist Church has seen both steep decline and growth in the size of its congregation. In 1834, attendance peaked at only 19 members. But six years later, according to the church’s history, membership had grown to more than 100, and in 1858 there were 240 members worshipping at the church. Today the church has a congregation of about 30.

In 1858, the congregation was outgrowing the small church, and a gallery was added, with 20 additional feet in the front, along with other renovations and new baptistery.

Then in 1874, the congregation sold a piece of the land it owned and built the bell tower and clock that now chimes for the residents of Chestnut Hill.

Since that bell tower was installed, the church’s building has not had serious structural renovations, according to the Rev. David Seip, the church’s senior pastor for the past 10 years.

In the sanctuary of the church, the need for renovation is not immediately evident.

Despite the church’s small congregation, the sanctuary can accommodate about 200 people, and its pews and pulpit look pristine. The pews were refurbished about 20 years ago and still look brand new. The walls seem recently painted and curtains look fresh. The large windows let in generous amount of sunlight, and the yellow, tan and clouded panes give the room a soft glow.

But a few of the pews are covered with a plastic tarp, and, looking up, visitors discover the reason.

The paint and plaster on the ceiling is rippled and peeling. Paper-thin pieces of paint hang precariously, ready to drop onto the neatly kept pews, and during a hard rain water drips from the space.

The water damage began under the bell tower, right above the sanctuary entrance. The ceiling area under the tower began peeling and rippling about two years ago, Seip said. In the past year, that peeling has spread out, reaching into the church’s sanctuary above the pews.

When the plans for the renovations began, Seip, who has also worked as an architect, had a structural engineer check the building’s damage for structural problems.

Fortunately, there is no structural damage yet, but renovations were needed immediately to hold off real damage. The renovation project is beginning with a new roof on in the bell tower because it will prevent further water damage, the largest threat to the building right now.

“Right now, there’s nothing structural,” Seip said, “it’s just unsightly.”

The next step in the renovation will be the church’s windows, which have also been damaged by water infiltration.

The windows are old, although Seip is not sure when they were installed. And the soft glow coming from the yellowed and cloudy stained glass is not intended, but rather the result of years of having to replace broken and damaged panes.

Again, there is no structural damage, but the wood frame surrounding the church’s large windows is deteriorating and beginning to fall apart as water gets into the already cracked framing. A few years ago, one of the windows fell out of its framing and a piece of wood stands in its place.

On the first floor, damage is more evident — the walls are bubbly and peeling. The walls will need to be re-plastered, the roof, gutters and downspouts replaced, and other patches and repairs are needed around the church.

The entire project is expected to cost $1.5 million. The church currently has $100,000 in the bank, which allowed the congregation to begin the bell tower work.

In the next few months Seip and members of the congregation are anticipating the beginning of a capital campaign to raise money. He said that although the congregation is financially stable, with no debt, it is too small to handle the renovation costs on its own.

“Because we’re a small congregation, it’s hard for us to say we can take care of that need,” he said.

Partners for Sacred Places, a national organization with offices in Philadelphia, found the church’s efforts worthy of one of its grants.

Partners helps churches find their place in the community, and it provided the congregation with a $25,000 matching grant for the renovation after Seip and some congregation members participated in a workshop on defining the church’s role in the community.

He said that at that workshop it was interesting to see the different roles each church played in its community. In less affluent communities, the church is needed as a focal point of programs for the community, with after-school programs, day care, senior activities and more.

But in Chestnut Hill, the importance of the church is in providing meeting space, hosting events and maintaining its historical significance, and Seip wants not only to maintain all that involvement, but to expand it.

Currently the church hosts two monthly Chestnut Hill Community Association committee meetings — the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee and the Development and Review Committee.

“The kind of things we use the church for are committee meetings,” he said. “I don’t think there are more committees in any other community than Chestnut Hill.”

Also, for the past four years, the Bach Festival has hosted a performance in the church’s sanctuary.

“The community has been very generous to this church, and that’s because of its historical value,” he said, referring specifically to the most recent activity — the Garden District’s contribution of spotlights and plants for the church, the latter of which Seip waters, weeds and maintains. “But we’re more than a historical asset to the community, we want to be a venue for its needs.”

The total renovation does not have an anticipated finishing date. Seip said it depends largely on when the money is raised for each phase of the renovation.

But the first phase, the bell tower, should be finished as this story is published, and residents should once again be able to tell time by the ringing of the church’s bell.