$1.2M facelift of St. Mary's church to use historic Chicago brick from former Arnie's restaurant

A popular restaurant on Grand Rapids' West Side is helping a nearby church keep a bit of history in the neighborhood.

As part of the $1.2 million exterior restoration of historic St. Mary's Catholic Church, masons will tuck point the 200-foot bell tower and replace any damaged bricks.  The replacement bricks are courtesy of the former Arnie's Restaurant, a Leonard Street fixture that succumbed to fire in May.

Built in 1873, the church building at 423 1st St. NW is in good condition, but the facade and roof have deteriorated from exposure to the elements. Bill Ogden, general superintendent at Owen-Ames-Kimball, the firm managing the project, attends mass at St. Mary's and has witnessed first-hand the problems with the aging facade.

"If it's 32 degrees (Fahrenheit) out and we get rain, the brick absorbs it. Then that night if it drops down to 15 degrees the water freezes and the brick facings pop off," he says. "Every week, a lot of pieces of brick would be on their steps."

Crews will replace the roof, any rotted wood, the window frames and possibly cover the bell tower cross with gold leaf. After that, crews will manually scrub the entire building using a chemical brick restorer and brushes; a technique proven to minimize damage. That cleaning process takes about 30 days.

"We're restoring it to the original beauty of the building," says Father Dick Host, pastor. "It's German Gothic architecture and was built for German immigrants on the west side. The St. Mary's church community began in a small wood church by the river, started by Bishop Baraga when Campau and the Indians were here. Now we have a lot of parishioners from Mexico and Guatemala, plus students and families."

Source: Bill Ogden, Owen-Ames-Kimball; Reverend Dick Host, St. Mary's Catholic Church

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].