Construction began on the current church of St. John the Evangelist in 1833. At the time, it was the largest parish church in the U.S., and the first consecrated church in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The top of the tower is the highest point in Frederick. The facilities manager arrived one morning to find part of the interior cornice had fallen to the floor overnight. Due to WEI’s recent work on the bell tower restoration, our conservator was asked to survey the interior plaster and make emergency make-safe repairs.

WEI’s principal conservator surveyed the ceiling from a lift, noting any cracking and imminent loss, especially around the area of the fallen segment, while one of our diligent craftsmen assisted with stabilizing when possible. Small detached pieces were removed, conserved, and used for eventual paint matching. A highly detailed report of the survey, which included assessment and repair recommendations, was submitted to the church. Careful measurements and diagrams were made of the elaborate molding so that WEI’s plasterers could design in situ. While shop fabrication was proceeding, WEI carpenters performed framing reinforcement at the crossing in the attic, to help support some of the cantilevered sections at the mitered corners. It appeared that some of the framing had been altered when steel beams were installed in the attic many years ago. The field crew erected scaffolding around the areas that required extensive repair, while a man-lift was used to repair small patches and cracking. Once all the repairs were installed, WEI’s superb decorative painters matched the colors and painted the repairs to match the existing molding. Some of the colors required overlays of multiple glazes to match perfectly.