Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church

Most Precious Blood, Astoria NY

Most Precious Blood is an Art Deco masterwork, completed in 1932. It is well-known in its Astoria community for the solid granite façade with decorative limestone carving, and the octagonal granite belfrytower, reminiscent of an Irish farm silo. The tower is crowned with a perforated aluminum screen in a delightful pattern of peacocks and flowers. This comprehensive, 15 year restoration project has addressed substantial leaks at the entire building envelope. The facades’ granite stones were numbered, and their positions recorded. They were removed so the walls could be waterproofed and then rebuilt. Monumental original steel framed stained-glass windows were carefully removed, rebuilt off-site, and returned. The peacock screens (fabricated by Alcoa in 1932 when cast aluminum was a new material) were disassembled, air blasted, and repaired with molten aluminum, then re-installed with the support of new buttresses constructed of identical aluminum. The parapet walls, roofs, and copper drainage system were repaired or replaced. Once the envelope was secure and watertight, the interior plaster was repaired.