Renovating Our House, Preserving a Landmark

St. John's has embarked on a campaign to restore and renovate its buildings and to renew its ministry in Jamaica Plain. Since 1885 St. John's has stood at the corner of Revere Street and Roanoke Avenue; our green lawn and pudding-stone buildings have long provided space for those in search of community fellowship as well as meditative stillness. St. John's buildings and grounds - and its community of faith - have provided generations of Jamaica Plain residents a setting that embodies both constancy and change.

Preservation and Restoration of a Neighborhood Sanctuary

The buildings and grounds of St. John's Church that have served the parish and Jamaica Plain well for many years are now in need of repair. Structural flaws--without correction--could lead to the destruction of this Jamaica Plain landmark. The parish leadership of St. John's has made the preservation and restoration of this neighborhood sanctuary one of its highest priorities. At the dawn of the new century, St. John's committed itself and completed major exterior renovations. This work consisted of roof repair, underground drainage, and landscaping that included the creation of gathering space suitable for informal gatherings as well as services. This was accomplished with $100,000 from the parish endowment which was combined with external grants from the Henderson Foundation and The Massachusetts Historical Society that totaled nearly $200,000. Our capital renovations have come a long way to securing the envelope of the parish buildings, but this success is only the first part in our overall project. What remains is the refurbishment of our interior space, creating valuable public space for worship and service to the greater Jamaica Plain/Boston community.

The parish is now embarking on Phase II of our capital project which includes the renovation of the church basement to create a space for our parish children’s programs and a meeting space for the church as well as neighborhood groups. In our original plans we had hoped to provide a rentable daycare space at a projected cost of $750,000. However, this first phase has been scaled back in scope from the original to meet our budget. However, we will be able to update our building infrastructure to create badly needed accessible restrooms, children training toilets and a food pantry. The projected cost of this project is $550,000 and as of June 2006 our Capital Campaign has met this goal more than half way reaching $400,000 in gifts and pledges. This is an exciting time at St. John's as we commit ourselves to an expanded role of the parish and its building in the lives of individuals, families, and the neighborhood.