City
landmark, church's burden
'Onion
domes' are too costly to repair, too visually striking to remove.
By
MIKE HOOVER
Daily Record/Sunday News
Saturday, November 6, 2004
A century of weathering has dulled the
once-bright copper shine of the onion-shaped domes to a flat green.
Time, age and the elements have not been kind to the four pillars and five copper domes that have towered above York's South Beaver Street neighborhood since 1906, when the former Adas Israel synagogue was built.
The pillars holding up four of the heavy metal domes are deteriorating, and some fear they might topple under their own weight.
The building's new owner, St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission, does not have the money to pay the estimated $30,000 to repair the pillars and domes.
The church asked to take down the domes, but that request hit heavy opposition from historical preservationists who wanted to save the area's sole example of Moorish or Oriental Revival architecture. The copper Turkish domes, commonly called onion domes, are a one-of-a-kind architecture feature in York County.
"It is highly significant, highly unusual, very unique. There is nothing else like it in York or the entire area," said Mindy Higgins, executive director of Historic York.
Following the advice of the city's Historical Architectural Review Board, the city council unanimously denied a request to raze the towers, opting to preserve a piece of history, said council President Cameron Texter.
While Texter is sympathetic to the church's plight, he said those who buy a piece of history have a responsibility to preserve that legacy.
"It has to be repaired to maintain its beauty and architectural wonder of the building," Texter said. "Those domes on that church are very important to York's skyline. It is a beauty to behold."
Dr. David Drew, a director at the church, said the congregation does not have the $25,000 needed to stabilize the towers, plus another $5,000 needed to repair the copper domes. He said the congregation of about 25 families has already spent $60,000 in material alone to make repairs since purchasing the building in January. Congregation members did most of the repairs themselves to save money, he said.
What little money the church can scrap together has to be saved for an estimated $25,000 to repaint the church's red brickwork so weathering doesn't further deteriorate the building.
"We certainly don't want to dismantle the tower," Drew said. "Our first concern is safety, then finances, and then historical preservation. We do want to respect the historical integrity of the building. But we can't do that if we don't have the money,"
Drew said the church had every intention of saving the towers, but blames Met-Ed, a division of FirstEnergy, for the repair bill. The work was originally estimated at $5,000, but repair crews could not begin until Met-Ed moved a transformer and electrical line less than 3 feet from the towers, he said.
The electrical lines were moved last month — but not until an icy winter and wet spring caused further damage to the towers, driving the repair cost up to $25,000, Drew said.
"Met Ed backed us into a corner by not moving the pole," he said.
Now that the city has rejected a plan to remove the domes, Drew said the church will try to get someone to secure the towers with cables until a solution can be found.
Ernie Waters, area manager for Met-Ed, said the church created its own problems by initially refusing to pay the estimated $4,000 to move the transformer and utility lines.
With the high-powered electrical facilities now gone, work crews will not be in danger, he said. But Waters said that Met-Ed does not have the authority to move the pole or other utilities, including those of the cable and telephone companies, which will also want to be reimbursed to relocate wiring.
"The only thing delaying this was their unwillingness to pay us to move the facilities," Waters said.
Reach Mike Hoover at 771-2088 or mhoover@ydr.com
ABOUT THE DOMES
What: The 'Onion Domes'
Where: St. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Mission, South Beaver Street in York
Tidbit: The domed tower is the region's sole example of Moorish or Oriental Revival architecture
History: Constructed in 1906 for the Adas Israel synagogue by local architect Charles Augustus Keyworth
Saints Peter and Paul RCM Home Page
