At 3:45PM on October 15, the bells will ring — safely and brilliantly — in the newly restored bell tower of Grace Episcopal Church in celebration of the preservation of this historic bell tower. Everyone is invited to join the party on the lawn of the church (76 Eldredge Street, Newton Corner), 3PM-5PM, to mark the event, which caps a multi-year, multi-layered project.
In 2010, structural instability in the 150-year-old Grace Church Bell Tower — a landmark within the Farlow and Kenrick Parks National Historic District – prompted the church to close its main entrance and erect a protective fence around the tower. Due to a structural flaw in the design of the tower, the weight of the spire was forcing a widening of the tower base, opening cracks and allowing water to penetrate. The damage accelerated as cycles of water freezing and thawing widened the cracks.
In 2018, the church started exploring options to save the tower, working with John Wathne of Structures North to engineer a solution. The following year, the church closed the tower out of safety concerns, silencing the bells, and soon after, closed the sanctuary. The church was faced with a decision to either restore or remove the historic tower.
The project to restore the bell tower was estimated to cost $2.8 million – an amount well beyond the church’s resources. Seeking a partnership with the City, in 2020 Grace Church applied for a Community Preservation Act (CPA) grant for $1.4 million, and in April 2021 the City Council approved it as 50% matching grant. The church raised the other $1.4 million through generous contributions from the congregation and local community. This marked the first preservation project associated with a religious institution to receive funding through the Newton CPA program, alongside support from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
The project was managed on a volunteer basis by local architect and Grace Church member Scott Aquilina. He also led the neighborhood campaign to raise over 700 signatures in support of the church’s application for CPA funding.
In the summer of 2021, Aniceto Restorations began the extensive process of repairing and reconstructing the tower. To ensure the tower’s long-term stability, steel reinforcing rings were strategically installed within the interior. Severely deteriorated areas, such as the base of the spire and lower-level buttresses, were substantially rebuilt with perfectly matched stone. The project was completed in September 2023. On October 15, Grace Church will reopen the tower doors and ring the Eldredge Chime, simultaneously celebrating the renovation of the tower and its 150th anniversary in Newton Corner.
The bells in the tower — the historical Eldredge Chime – consists of nine bells, a generous gift from Elizabeth Eldredge, who also provided the land for the construction of the “new stone church” in 1873. These bells were cast by the Revere/Hooper/Blake company, a direct lineage of the Paul Revere foundry that produced the first Boston bell in 1791. Grace Church’s chime stands as one of only two from that foundry that remains in its original condition, renowned for its extraordinarily pure tone. The largest of these bells, known as the tolling bell, weighs 2,200 pounds, and all nine bells together weight 8,296 pounds.
Each week, one of Grace Church’s group of a dozen bell ringers — ranging in age from 8 to 80 — climbs the steep, narrow stairs to ring the bells. Chimers ring the bells by manipulating levers on a wooden stand located one story below the bells, with each lever connected by cable to the clapper of a bell — with no electronic assistance. During the tower restoration project, the Verdin Bell Company refurbished the bell console and replaced the cable mechanisms. With the reopening of the tower, the Eldredge Chime will once again fill Farlow Park with music.
On October 15, Grace will welcome back Bill Wright, the son of the late Marge and Brad Wright the 47-year music director at Grace. Fifty years ago, Bill played the bells at the 100th anniversary of Grace Church, when he was 15. He will return from Pennsylvania to ring on the 150th anniversary of the Eldredge Chime.
All are welcome to join in the celebration of the restoration and to thank the City of Newton, the Massachusetts Historical Commission, and community. Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and Ward 1 Councilor Maria Greenberg will speak. The event will include cider and donuts, music by the Branches Steel Pan Orchestra, tours of the sanctuary, and more bell ringing!
