St. Francis Xavier

A Jesuit apostolate in the heart of New York City, with an active school, and numerous outreach programs, St. Francis Xavier serves a wide cross section of New Yorkers. Designed by renowned ecclesiastical architect Patrick Keeley, and built by immigrants in 1878, St. Francis Xavier’s Neo-Baroque liturgical artistry program includes 47 murals, 35 plaster statues, architectural ornament plasterwork, and marble furnishings, all of which were resplendent beneath layers of darkened varnish, and over a hundred years of incense, candle soot, and dirt from the city.

EverGreene worked closely with St. Francis and Thomas A. Fenniman Architects to develop appropriate conservation and restoration treatments to preserve the existing architectural features and retain as much of the original historic fabric as possible.

Our work included the cleaning and restoration of the church’s decorative painting and special finishings, flat and decorative plaster and plaster statues, stone and marble floors and furnishings, and the conservation of wall and ceiling murals. Stone restoration and new stone design comprised a considerable aspect of the overall restoration.