Rensselaer beehive steeple a towering challenge to repair – Albany Times Union

Photo: Will Waldron, Albany Times Union

Rensselaer beehive steeple a towering challenge to repair

RENSSELAER Fixing a slate roof is always a challenge. Its even more difficult when the roof curves in different directions as does the 165-foot-tall beehive steeple of the Parish of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph.

It towers over the city of Rensselaer, Deacon Greg Mansfield said of the 1891 landmark cone-shaped steeple.

The last time the parish dealt with replacing the slate shingles was in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Thats when workers climbed out of a small hatch in the steeple and swung above the city on a boatswains chair to perform the repairs, Mansfield said. This summer, the steeple is encased in scaffolding that rises from Herrick and Lawrence streets up to its tip.

There only a few beehive steeples across the nation, said Mansfield. He grew up in St. Raymonds Parish in the Bronx where the church had two such steeples. He said the beehive steeples are believed to have originated in Bavaria in southern Germany, and the complexity of the design made maintenance difficult. The Rensselaer parish decided it had to deal with the aging slate shingles when leaks sprouted in the church ceiling damaging the plaster.

Theyre putting flat pieces of shingle on a curved surface, Mansfield said about the steeple roof that he called elliptical and hyperbolic in contemplating its curves.

The replacement of the shingles, painting and replacement of metalwork that dates back 126 years to the building of the Catholic church will cost about $300,000. The scaffolding accounts for about one-third of the repair work, Mansfield said. A couple of parishioners, who want to keep their donations anonymous, paid for about two-thirds of the work, said Mansfield.

Wainschaf Associates and Bruce Adams Roofing are performing the repairs, Mansfield said.

Its wonderful to be a part of it, said Jerry Wainman, president and CEO of Wainschaf Associates who is also a parishioner.

Wainman was at the top of the scaffolding last week. The view of Albany from there, he said, is breathtaking, and the steeple is solid.

Its amazing what good shape its in, said Wainman, noting that the slate work should be completed this week with the painting and metalwork done in the next couple of weeks.

The repairs should last for about 50 years, Mansfield said.

The parish will partner with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany to undertake an additional capital campaign to fund additional improvements, Mansfield said.

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Rensselaer beehive steeple a towering challenge to repair - Albany Times Union