27 Sep Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation Supports Project Planning at Roxbury’s St. John St. James
HBI is grateful to the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation for a recent grant of $10,000 to support rehabilitation planning at historic Ionic Hall and St. Luke’s Chapel, two buildings that constitute the Episcopal Church of St. John St. James in Roxbury.
Since 2017, HBI has been working with the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and the parish of St. John St. James on strategies to restore and re-activate the two buildings, both of which have been challenged by deferred maintenance. Built circa 1803, Ionic Hall is an unusual surviving brick mansion from the early federal period in Roxbury. St. Luke’s Chapel, designed by the famed ecclesiastical architect Ralph Adams Cram, was constructed in 1901, and supported St. Luke’s Convalescence home, which then occupied Ionic Hall. In the 1960s, St. Luke’s was consolidated with Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain, and two Roxbury Episcopal parishes consolidated and moved to this site, building an impressive addition to Ionic Hall in 1966 for their church sanctuary.
Eastern Bank’s support supports professional services required to plan the two buildings’ restoration for continued use of the parish and expanded use by other diocesan service programs, and by community based organizations. With the architectural firm of Spencer, Sullivan and Vogt, HBI, the diocese, and parish are nearing completion of a full conditions assessment and conceptual plans for the buildings’ re-use with cost estimates for completing the work.
There is more to come on this extraordinary site and the community that stewards it. Thank you, Eastern Bank, for your important support!
Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation
Ionic Hall and St. Luke’s Chapel