February 2011 St. Joseph's Newsletter

All you need to know about what's up at St. Joe's

PLEASE GIVE $40 TO FINISH TODAY!

What we’ve done so far for St. Joe's has been a remarkable fundraising feat for a small not-for-profit organization like Historic Albany.  Now to complete our loan obligation to Capitalize Albany, we’re asking you to donate to St. Joe's one more time so that we can retire the loan and raise $5,000 to pay the carrying costs on the church for 2011.  With this in mind, we’re asking our members and other supporters of St. Joseph's  Church for a gift of $40, or any part or multiple of that amount.

Background
Since its dedication in 1860, St. Joseph's Church, designed by noted American architect Patrick Keely, has graced the downtown Albany skyline.  In 1993 the church held its last service and was sold to a private owner, eventually becoming the property of the City of Albany.  By the end of that transitional decade, the church building had deteriorated considerably and faced demolition.

A building as beautiful as this Albany landmark deserved to survive.  In June 2003 the City transferred ownership of the church to Historic Albany Foundation.  The Foundation immediately rose to the occasion to spearhead an effort to save St. Joseph's.  Under the leadership of Matthew Bender IV, Chair of the St. Joseph's Re-use Committee, Historic Albany Foundation hosted a series of public meetings to get community input on St. Joseph's future.  The concerned citizens who attended those meetings overwhelmingly recommended that the building serve as a community resource.

Click here to check out a historic ad for slate roofing proclaiming St. Joseph's to be the most 'complete slate roof in the United States'.

Stabilization Project
Historic Albany Foundation is actively working to preserve and adapt the building for ongoing use.  One of the four colossal support pillars holding up the roof was in imminent danger of collapse and has been rebuilt.  Roof patching has made the building water-tight, in order to prevent further destruction from leaks.  Once the threat of futher water damage is contained, the beautiful German-style stained glass windows will be restored.

Visit the church during one of our open houses, or schedule a private tour for your group, to see the results of this stabilization work.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation recently awarded a $300,000 challenge grant to Historic Albany Foundation, so that we could continue with the critical stabilization work.  Historic Albany Foundation needs your help to raise $300,000 to match the state grant and receive those funds.

What You Can do to Help
Help us by spreading the word to friends and family that St. Joseph's needs their support.  Let people know that tours of the church can be arranged for those who would like to visit this historic landmark.  Ask people to send donations.  Send a gift yourself.  Gifts of any size will make a difference and will help make this project a success.  We greatly appreciate your contribution to this community-wide effort.  If you are interested in volunteering, please email us.

Currently Historic Albany Foundaiton has raised $273,000 and with your help only need $57,000 to finish the matching grant.

We’re asking everyone who has given in the recent past for just a bit more so we can reach our fundraising goal at 100%.  We’re asking 1,500 past participants for exactly $38 each (please feel free to donate more) which would bring us to our goal for the matching grant and help to defray this year’s maintenance costs.