St. Thomas Altar

St. Thomas Church in the DuPont Circle section of Washington, was built in the 1880’s. It was severely damaged in a fire in the 1970’s that destroyed most of the structure but most of the altar at the east end of the nave survived. The damaged altar and reredos were retained and protected in place after the church itself was demolished and the site turned into a park.

The Church now plans to renovate the site. A new building is planned to be built where to old church once stood and parts of the remaining structure will be incorporated into a new church building. We were engaged to assist this process by documenting the condition of all existing stones on the altar and reredos, preparing measured drawings, and assisting in developing removal and reconstruction plans to reuse these historic elements within the new space.

Each stone was measured and its condition noted on color-coded drawings showing good, fair and poor stones. A master plan of all stones was drawn showing all of the original joints, layouts and conditions. The plans were then integrated into designs for new uses for the stones. The client is proceeding with removals and salvage and plans to open the new church integrating these salvaged elements in 2018.