Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260012
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Church trustees have decided to stabilize what's left of the 97-year-old church, according to Walter Wheaton, chairman of the trustees. He's awaiting proposals from engineers on how to do it.
Right behind the church, contractors for the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority are replacing a house roof destroyed when embers from the church ignited the dwelling on April 22.
Wheaton said the congregation, now in a new church a block from the old one, needs those engineering proposals right away. "We've got to do something before winter, before it freezes." Freezing rain would dislodge more of the brickwork, he said. "It would ruin it."
Richmond structural engineer and preservationist Bill Davis, one of the engineers making recommendations, said Thursday he would send his ideas along soon. He was working on an estimate of what it would cost to shore up the walls.
"It's not greatly expensive," he said. Braces would preserve the walls until the church decides whether to create a park from the ruins or rebuild the church, he said.
The church's pastor, the Rev. Kenneth Wright, said it will take congregation, community and government coming together to turn the charred walls into any kind of public facility.
Gainsboro residents and institutions have been divided over two, four-lane road projects through the predominantly black neighborhood. Wright thinks the fire might bring some healing. "That is the prophetic value of the incident," he said, "that it will require the working together of the major components of the community."
More than anything, he said, he would like to minister to the two neighborhood boys who set the church on fire just to watch it burn. A 16-year-old is serving an indeterminate term in a juvenile detention home; last week, his 11-year-old cousin was ordered to receive counseling and fire safety training.
The church must preserve not only its structures, but also the futures of the two youths "and so many other boys like them," he said.
Building Specialists Inc., Roanoke general contractors, had contracted before the fire to renovate two 100-year-old houses at 12 and 18 Gilmer Ave. N.E. They were moved there last year from nearby Wells Avenue when the street was widened into a four-lane road to serve downtown traffic and Hotel Roanoke.
Bob Fetzer, owner of Building Specialists, said the original renovation contract was for about $220,000. But the fire did $105,000 in damage, bringing the total now to around $325,000. The city spent another $330,000 last year to buy the former house sites and move the houses from Wells. They will be sold to low- to moderate-income buyers.
Renovations should be finished around the New Year, Fetzer said. "We plan to employ as many minority contractors and neighborhood folks and local suppliers and subcontractors on this project as we can," he said.
by CNB