Boston – Abbot Building Restoration Company, Inc. recently completed the first phase of a major restoration project at the First Haitian Baptist Church located in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. Abbot was contracted for the project via a referral from Wessling Architects with whom Abbot has performed work over the years.
Founded in 1969, the First Haitian Baptist Church is a brick structure with two domed towers, a double-entrance stairway, and a row of five entrance arches situated beneath a stained glass window.
The first phase of the project focused on the rear of the building where large areas of the brick had debonded and were pulling away from the backup wall. So that Abbot could evaluate the extent of the debonding, the team erected pipe staging to access the entire wall allowing a series of test holes to be created in areas specified by the architect. Based on this evaluation, it was determined that certain areas needed to be completely demolished and rebuilt with new brick to match the color and texture of the existing brick. The back-up wall also required repair as needed.
Abbot filled and parged any open holes while parts of the outer wall were being rebuilt. Abbot then cut and pointed the remainder of the wall. To complete the repairs, the roofing contractor, SRC Roofing, installed a new gutter along the entire length of the wall as well as new downspouts.
Representatives of the firm say that, due to Abbot’s proficiency and workmanship, combined with a smooth working relationship with the church personnel, Abbot was asked to continue working on the entire building. Abbot is currently working on phase 2, while plans for phases 3 and 4 are underway.
