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Show The Blue Church is born again f f v-- J n 7 v v II ' i ' lill'' r-; ; f ? lrc . Roy Reynolds and Paul deGroot are putting the Blue Church back together again. by Nan Chalat "When I saw the church after the fire, my first thought was, it's gone. The next day I thought, maybe it can be saved, but I knew right away it wouldn't be easy," said Architect Bill Mammen of Reynolds and Mammen Architects. For Mammen, reconstructing recon-structing the Blue Church on Park Avenue after it was gutted by fire on Jan. 9, 1982, was a new and challenging project. But for his partner Roy Reynolds, who had come to Park City to remodel the Blue Church in 1976, it was an emotionally painful experience. The fire destroyed the newly-remodeled interior and left only 75 percent of the historic exterior intact. "I know it was hard on Roy and it was for me, too," said contractor Paul deGroot. de-Groot. "It was the building that brought us here, and I thought of it as one of our better projects." Reynolds and deGroot are both from Virginia and it was there they met the Blue Church's owner, Robert J. Lewis of Great Falls, Va. "We had both worked for Bob on other historic buildings, but we didn't know each other until we came to Park City," said deGroot of Reynolds. "As it turned out, we went to competing high schools back in Virginia." By the time the Blue Church project was finished, Reynolds and deGroot had each decided to stay in Park City. Reynolds went on to establish his own architectural architec-tural firm and to spearhead a drive to have the Blue Church listed on the National Na-tional Register of Historic Places. DeGroot started a contracting business which has earned a solid reputation for work on historic reconstruction recon-struction projects. Then, last October, they were called upon to return to the Blue Church again. The owner had decided to rebuild the historic landmark. It was not the first time the site on upper Park Avenue had been ravaged by fire. The first LDS chapel in Park City was built there in 1896, but it burned to the ground during the fire of 1898, leaving only the stone foun-' dation walls. The scars from that fire are still clearly visible inside the building. The Mormon community in Park City had the church rebuilt on the same foundation founda-tion in 1900, and as the congregation grew during the '20s and '30s, they added a choir loft, a Sunday school and the bell tower. The building continued to serve the local LDS ward until a new church was built in 1962, after which the Blue Church was sold to private investors. inves-tors. Lewis converted the building build-ing into a seven-unit apartment apart-ment complex in 1976 and guests were sleeping soundly sound-ly the night of Jan. 2, 1982 when a space heater caught fire near the boiler room. The guests were all safely evacuated and the fire department was called, but the fire quickly spread through the walls. The firemen's efforts were thwarted largely because the building, due to its historic status, did not meet up-to-date fire codes. The roof collapsed and the firemen fire-men were forced to direct their efforts to saving surrounding sur-rounding buildings. , - ., "I think we can safely say though, that it can never burn again," said Mammen, surveying the most recent reconstruction. The building project, which again calls for seven apartment units, is running slightly behind schedule, but will be completed com-pleted by the time the first guests arrive on Dec. 15, he said. This time, the builders have met, and in many cases gone beyond, current code requirements. The building has been lined with a steel infrastructure to meet seismic seis-mic code standards. A concrete foundation floor has been poured and there will be an automatic sprinkler sprink-ler system and fire corridors for each unit, he said. "Ron Ivie (the city's chief building inspector) has been one of the biggest assets on the whole project," said Mammen. "He has been extremely cooperative in helping us to meet the code requirements while retaining retain-ing the historic lines of the building." Because of the code requirements re-quirements and the problems prob-lems inherent in any reconstruction recon-struction project, deGroot said the project is particularly particu-larly challenging . "New construction can be rather . humdrum. But especially on historic projects, reconstruction recon-struction can be very interesting. in-teresting. But it is more difficult." Normally contractors work on a new project from the outside in, but reconstructions recon-structions have to be done from the inside out. The confined spaces make the work even tougher.. "For example, the steel infrastructure had to be hand-carried into the Blue Church. We couldn't use a crane," deGroot explained. But the tradeoffs are that the carpenters get a chance to see how others in their trade used to put buildings together. to-gether. "It is sort of like sociology or anthropology. You learn things," said deGroot. "Paul's crew has really done an amazing amount of work," said Mammen. "They have literally had to replace the pieces stick by stick." In many places the new studs have been fitted in against the charred remains of the original framework. The siding was custom-made to match what was left of the previous exterior walls, and fortunately,' enough of the arched windows and trim-work trim-work remained to duplicate, . said deGroot. Their careful attention to . the historic integrity of the building has paid off. According Ac-cording to Mammen there was an uneassy delay when the National Park Service refused to recertify the Blue Church as an historic landmark land-mark until it saw the completed project. But upon presentation of the plans, the Department of the Interior told the Park Service to go ahead and make a decision. Losing the historic register status would have made the cost of the project prohibitive. prohibi-tive. "If it weren't for city staff's encouragement, the owner's willingness to do it again, and the economic incentive provided by the federal government, this wouldn't be happening," said Mammen. When the Blue Church opens in December, the old brass weathervane and the original stained glass panel above the front door will be back in place. There will be a new jaccuzzi where the baptismal pool used to be and the Blue Church will be : born again;- " " "" ' |
