WEST ORANGE, NJ — The West Orange Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved a certificate of appropriateness for the proposed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church roof plans during its April 18 meeting, thus bringing the nearly 200-year-old historic building one step closer to restoration following the fire that severely damaged it on New Year’s Day 2016.
Several of the HPC members in attendance lauded architect Zachary Gidich for making his design look as similar as possible to the original church roof. While the new roof will consist of synthetic slate tiles instead of the actual slate the first roof had, HPC Vice Chairman Martin Feitlowitz said the substitution should not look too glaring from the vantage point of passersby. And Feitlowitz said Gidich’s commitment to matching the old roof’s appearance and colors, using photos and recovered tiles, will go a long way toward making the restoration effective.
“I’d like to commend you (for doing) all the research and all the effort that’s been put forth to try to get as close to the intent of the original design,” Feitlowitz said. “I think that’s admirable.”
But the HPC did pass a few conditions in conjunction with the certificate. For one, the commissioners wanted the Pentecostal Church of God Liberation for All Souls — the property owner — to designate Gidich as its representative responsible for such tasks as reviewing all construction documents and performing site inspections. This condition was welcomed by the church, with trustee Douglas Hernandez explaining that Pastor Sergio Artiles has told him Gidich would be the most qualified person to oversee the roof’s construction.
Other conditions included the requirement that the property owner submit all documents to the HPC and historic preservation officer Paul Grygiel in addition to township officials. The church additionally needs to inform the commission and Grygiel of all opportunities to monitor field mockups or test panels related to the exterior rehabilitation, with any disagreement over whether work is in compliance with historic preservation standards to be decided by a certified historic consultant obtained at the owner’s expense. And the church has to inform the HPC and Grygiel of any work Gidich thinks may have an adverse effect on the building’s historic features.
In addition, the commission will make inspections of construction approved by the certificate upon reasonable advance notice to the property owner. Plus, St. Mark’s will be photographed before, during and after the roof work to document the project, with copies of the photographs supplied to the commission and the West Orange Public Library.
After reading those conditions into the record, HPC Chairman Brian Feeney suggested adding one more — the specification that the section of slate tiles from the original roof that survived the blaze be incorporated into the new roof.
“That’s a very standard practice, and it’s something we tried very hard to do on the Edison Battery Building” Feeney said. “It seems you have a means to do that.”
Gidich reiterated that he intends to preserve a band of slate tiles on the rectory roof after previously agreeing to do so during the March 8 HPC meeting. Of course, the architect pointed out that he will have to remove the slate before he can put it on the new roof, so just how many of the original slate tiles will be used will depend on how many can be removed intact.
The architect also informed the commission that he had met with representatives of DaVinci Roofscapes, the manufacturer of the synthetic slate tiles he will use, to confirm that its products come with a 50-year warranty. Though the company itself has only existed for approximately 15 years, Gidich said it had conducted testing to demonstrate the synthetic slate would remain viable for 50 years and also would not fade as quickly as a standard polymer product. He added that DaVinci uses virgin polymers, which will resist fading better than recycled material.
Additionally, Gidich said DaVinci representatives told him the tiles will not all be of a uniform color. Instead, he said the manufacturer will make a batch of the selected color tiles plus tiles with in colors a little darker and lighter. It then blends the different colored tiles together so that they will look more like natural stone when affixed to the roof.
“As you can imagine, natural stone won’t have one straight plastic color straight throughout,” Gidich said. “They do blend that color to sort of replicate the stone as best as possible.”
Some members of the commission also had questions for Gidich, with HPC member Phyllis Ficarotta asking whether a snow guard would be applied to the roof to prevent snow from sliding off onto people below. The architect answered that a snow guard is not in the current plans since one could not be seen in photos of the original roof. But he would be willing to consider it, pointing out that DaVinci actually recommends having a snow guard in place for its tiles. Ficarotta said it would be a good idea since snow often comes off her own slate roof “like an avalanche.”
Feeney questioned whether cutting the synthetic slate tiles to replicate the scalloped slate tiles of the first roof would reduce the strength of the material, and Gidich responded that it would not. The HPC chairman also wanted to know if wind would have any effect on the new roof, with the architect answering that the tiles are Miami-Dade County approved. That means they were judged as capable of withstanding the hurricane-strength winds commonly found in that area of Florida.
The chairman then raised the idea of using nails with ridges around their heads to hold down the tiles, as is the custom in Miami-Dade. But Gidich said those types of nails would significantly add to the cost of the project and are also not required by code. The architect said he instead will use hot-dipped galvanized nails, which are longer-lasting than regular galvanized nails and less expensive than stainless steel nails.
With those questions answered and the certificate of appropriateness issued, all structural and architectural roof plans will next be reviewed by township construction official Tom Tracey for approval. Gidich said he hopes to start the project sometime in early- to mid-summer.
Meanwhile, HPC member Gerald Fabris announced that the commission had withdrawn its application for St. Mark’s inclusion on Preservation New Jersey’s annual list of endangered historic sites because it could not get the support of the property owner. Fabris pointed out that Preservation New Jersey had actually been interested in naming the church to its list, which could have resulted in an increased number of donations toward the church’s restoration. So he questioned why the Pentecostal Church of God Liberation for All Souls was so resistant to the idea.
Hernandez answered that the property owner’s hesitancy came after researching the types of structures that have been included on Preservation New Jersey’s previous lists. The trustee said that the 2014 and 2015 lists mainly consisted of abandoned buildings on the verge of being torn down. St. Mark’s is clearly a different story, he said.
“We came to the conclusion that this property didn’t fit,” Hernandez said. “We’re a structure that suffered a fire. And we’re looking to rebuild this structure to a fully functioning building that will serve the community.”
Photos by Sean Quinn
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