Brentwood Church Receives $30K Grant For Repairs

BRENTWOOD, NY - A Brentwood church was among a total of 23 buildings or structures in the state to be receive landmark status and be awarded part of a grant for repairs.

The New York Landmarks Conservancy has announced 23 Sacred Sites Grants totaling $256,000 was recently awarded to historic religious properties throughout New York State, including $30,000 to Sisters of St. Joseph Chapel.

The money will go to help fund window, masonry, bell tower and roof repair, along with structural monitoring services to identify and address the cause of foundation settlement.

"We feel it is very important to help maintain religious structures that provide a sense of history and place to communities," Peg Breen, President, The New York Landmarks Conservancy said. "Many also provide social service and cultural programs that benefit people beyond their congregations."

The Sisters of St. Joseph Motherhouse campus, which was built between 1927 and 1933, was constructed in two phases.

The first phase included constructing a long, staggered row of buff-brick, Romanesque-revival buildings and the second phase included a more modern, international-style section that was built around a courtyard.

The Sacred Heart Chapel is located within the 1927 to 1933 section and designed by architect Frederick V. Murphy of the firm Olmsted & Murphy in Washington, D.C.

The Romanesque-revival building is a three-story, cross-gabled, seven-by-three bay cruciform-plan building.

The lavish sanctuary contains original fixtures and finishes, including Guastavino tiles, onyx, alabaster windows, and marble statuary. Through various ministries, health-care activities, farming organizations, a school, migrant and immigrant programs and ministries, the facility is open to about 2,000 people a day.