Downtown Ithaca church restored to original glory

There is a reason why old churches were so ornate. Back when they were built, they were designed to illustrate the stories of the Bible with their striking stained glass, detailed carvings and brightly painted statutes.

“People couldn’t read,” Tom Robinson, head of the Building and Grounds Committee of Ithaca’s Immaculate Conception Church, explained, “so that’s how they learned.”

Over the years many old churches, including the 1898 Immaculate Church, located downtown on North Geneva Street, were essentially whitewashed on the inside, seemingly without a long-term plan.

“A lot of people were asking, ‘why did you remove this? Why did you improvise this?’” said Father Augustine Chumo, who has led the church for the last seven years. He never really knows how to answer those questions, as he is not sure how any of the work done to the church came about, or why certain decisions were made.

That was until two years ago, when he and his parish aimed to restore the church back to its original glory, with dramatic results.

The original architecture was “supposed to inspire people to pray,” Chumo said. With the restoration he strived to meet architectural and aesthetic norms appropriate for the time when the church was built.

“We’ve really tried to bring it back, as a restoration, to how it was built in 1898,” Robinson said. “We’ve returned a lot of the decorative paint and detail that was painted over with multiple sheets of light gray over the years.”

They worked with Clarence, NY, company Swiatek Studios, which specializes in historic church renovations, to restore the paint and stenciling to an accurate vintage design.

Three windows in the sanctuary that were plastered over around 1930 were opened back up to expose the original stained glass.

New confessionals were constructed out of white oak to match the original design.

New vintage-style pendant lighting was installed.

“The pendants were taken out in 1998 and almost, like, stadium lighting was put in,” Robinson said. The news pendants are two different sizes and have LED lights, though they are still vintage-looking, he said.

All new pews were put in, and carpeting was removed so that new hardwood flooring could be installed.

Modern stations of the cross were replaced with larger repainted vintage crosses. “They are very gothic,” Robinson said, adding that they were pulled out of a church that closed in Rome, NY.

An air conditioning system was installed last summer as well.

The restorations include a new high altar made of white oak and a new sacrificial altar that will be completed and delivered in the next couple of weeks, according to Robinson.

The sacrificial altar cannot be used until it is consecrated, and a ceremony will be held Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. Bishop Salvatore Matano of the Rochester Diocese will perform the ceremony, and all are invited.

“The blessing of the altar is a very beautiful ritual,” Robinson said, adding that Dec. 8 is an important date for the church as it is also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. “We would love everybody who can come to come, and immediately after there will be light refreshments to celebrate our parish.”

For the first time ever, the original organ was restored. This alone was a $400,000 project, Robinson said.

The entire project cost around $2 million. About $700,000 to $800,000 was donated by parishioners, and the rest of the money was raised through the sale of the Immaculate Conception School property, located at 320 West Buffalo Street. The school was closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year due to decreasing enrollment and increasing operating costs, and Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services (INHS) purchased the property in early 2019, turning it into a mixed use-community that houses affordable housing and space for The Learning Web and Village at Ithaca, according to INHS’s website.

After holding mass in the basement for about a year, the congregation was finally able to return to the main level of the church on June 18.

“It was worth waiting,” Chumo said.

The feedback from members of the church was all positive except for one thing: there is still not a bathroom on the main level of the church. Though there are seven bathrooms in the basement and an elevator, it is still not ideal to have to go down to the basement to use the restroom, Chumo said, adding that this is a priority for the future.

“Nothing is ever 100 percent complete,” Chumo said. “Every generation has something to do. There is always room for the Holy Spirit—always room for improvement and upkeep.”

It is good to be back in the newly revitalized space, Chumo added.

“It’s giving us a boost, spiritually,” he said. “It’s good to have a good worship space that connects you with the heavenly realm.”