Rebuilding Faith: The Restoration of Bethany United Methodist Church

In the spirit of the upcoming holidays, we at Poole Anderson would like to share with you a significant story from one of our past projects, the Bethany United Methodist Church of Milton, PA. In late November of 2019, the 1870’s church suffered significant damage from a fire that left the structure condemned and exposed to the elements for over a year. The roof was left with damaging openings, structural members were burnt and left non-existent, and the interior finishes were charred with significant smoke and water damage. With all the apparent damage, Poole Anderson along with hemmler + camayd architects, still saw the beauty of this historic structure and were eager to lend our expertise to reconstruct this historical church and reunite it with its congregation. As you can imagine, the 1870s structure had many challenges that were discovered as the construction process began: Protecting / shoring the stone walls and stained glass windows, hazardous materials, uneven bearing walls, sloped floor structures, outdated MEP infrastructure, outdated accessibility requirements, flood zones, winter conditions, and constrained logistics.

As each challenge was overcome, we were steps closer to bringing the congregation back to their perish, but the more the damage was assessed, the more it appeared the character of the original church would be lost. Would we be bringing them back to their church or back to a space distant and unrecognizable? It was important that we do our best to preserve as much of the original church to maintain their sense of belonging. One of these original characteristics were the beautiful stained-glass windows. The windows were to remain in place throughout construction requiring we pay special attention to their preservation and thoroughly protect them through the extensive demolition, hammer drilling into the surrounding stone walls, and setting trusses. It was truly an uplifting and inspiring moment when the temporary protection was removed and the natural light once again poured through these colorful windows and filled the beautiful sanctuary.  

This was a special project for Poole Anderson Construction. We excel in our abilities to connect with designers and owners professionally and personally; however, we had a rare opportunity to connect with an entire congregation and community on a much deeper level. Initially walking into this project, we were operationally focused on rebuilding bricks and mortar; however, we quickly realized we would be rebuilding much more than that. Some members of the congregation had spent their entire lives in this church. It was a place where they went to Sunday school, found a sense of community, grew their faith, celebrated their weddings, and in some cases mourned the loss of loved ones. 

To commemorate this space and ensure the congregation would always have a piece of their original church to keep close, we at Poole Anderson took it upon ourselves to commission over 150 wooden Worry Crosses crafted from the damaged pews. The crosses were gifted on the grand opening of the church; there was not a single dry eye in the room. It was this moment that our abilities to rebuild; our abilities to overcome obstacles; our abilities to connect with our clients enhanced to something more.