Conserving & Restoring our History Today

Jean-Louis Lachevre, a specialist in the conservation of large-format sculptures (and the husband of Susan Lachevre), is donating his services to help remove and then clean the Chapel bas-relief.  He has great expertise in this field and we are extraordinarily fortunate to have his help.  Thank you, Jean-Louis!  The work is one of the improvements to the chapel being undertaken with the funds remaining in the Window for the Women account.  As the first step, this past Tuesday Jean-Louis documented the sculpture’s existing condition, which included taking photos using lighting that revealed details not easily seen.  Next step: a professional rigging company will remove the sculpture from the wall and transport it to the Church School office where Jean-Louis will do his work.

The sculpture was given by his mother in memory of Ralph Lincoln Emerson, who participated in the design of the original church building along with his father, architect William Ralph Emerson, who also designed the rectory.  Sadly, Ralph Emerson died at the age of 31, in 1899, the same year both buildings were completed.  First installed in the original church, the sculpture was moved to its current location after the church was enlarged in 1916 with the addition of the chapel and the chancel (choir stalls and altar area) and sacristy.  The architect for that work was Ralph Adams Cram, whose firm, Cram and Ferguson, had also designed the Parish House, completed in 1911