The congregation at the First Presbyterian & Trinity Church in South Orange takes pride in both their history and their prominent location in town. When Dale Shuster, president of the church’s board of trustees, noticed that their schoolhouse was beginning to show its age, he knew he had to put things right.
“This was the face of our building —we didn’t like that,” said Dale Shuster, president of the church’s board of trustees. “I saw how bad it was and I thought, ‘How are we going to rebuild this?’ We just wanted it to be safe and reasonably attractive.”
But that wasn’t good enough for Louis DeMary, the owner of Approved Construction, who insisted on restoring the Education Building to its original appearance. It now looks much the same as it did when it opened for bible studies in 1929.
“There were sections of the whole entire facade that were just falling down — all of the crown moulding and concrete detail,” said DeMary who also rehabbed another nearby historic building at 128 Irvington Avenue. “It was important to save the building — this job had to be done correctly and you can’t cut corners in this scope of work.”
Two months ago, the restoration was complete. Last Sunday, Shuster offered our publication a tour of the school following church service. The Education Building is a handsome Gothic Revival schoolhouse, which opened just before the stock market crashed. If construction of the school had been delayed, it might not have been built, Shuster surmises.
The building is still used as a school today and the hallways are decorated with children’s drawings and handwriting exercises. The rooms include many interesting pre-Great Depression touches, such as functional fireplaces, arched doorways, and gaslight sconces.
One interesting detail about the building is that, although the exterior appears like limestone, it is actually cement that is made to resemble stone masonry. This is a technique that can go wrong in unskilled hands.
The congregation dates back to New Jersey’s earliest history. The founders were previously members of Newark’s First Presbyterian Church. The current brownstone church was built in 1880 and replaced an even older church on the same triangular lot. It is also the place where the South Orange Symphony was founded.
“This building represents so much history,” said the Reverend Valencia Norman, the church pastor since 2013. “By keeping this facade in great shape, we can continue to move into the future — we will be here.”
Upon entering the church from its Irvington Avenue entrance, visitors can see the award on the wall that the congregation received this month from the South Orange Historical & Preservation Society.
“There’s so much activity in town where we’re tearing things down and putting up something new,” said Bryn Douds, president of the society. “Restoration deserves recognition.”
Shuster said he thought it would be fitting to host the historical society’s December meeting at the church. But it took place in the evening and he didn’t want the attendees to see the church’s stained-glass windows without the sunlight streaming in.
However, during last Sunday’s service, the rose windows — made by Henry Keck, who learned his craft as an apprentice of Louis Comfort Tiffany — were shimmering in morning light.
“You can see how beautiful they are,” Shuster said.
