St Michaels Roman Catholic Church Flushing
New York Landmarks Conservancy - Lucy G Moses Award
St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church
This massive Church was built in 1888 as the jewel of St. John's University's First home in Brooklyn. It was designed in a Romanesque Revival style by preeminent religious property architect Patrick Keely. In recent years, Saint John the Baptist was served as a neighborhood parish church but was not a welcoming sight. The building was in extremely poor condition, with leaks at the roofs, rusty and decayed sheet metal elements, boarded-up windows, and rotted wood window frames. This project, completed over 11 years, has dramatically improved the handsome façade. All stonework was cleaned, repaired, and repainted. There are new roofs. An eight-foot-tall decorative frieze that runs along the entire building, and the cornices, gables, pinnacles, and gutters were replaced in lead-coated copper exactly matching the original. Stained-glass windows were restored with new hardwood outer frames and new protective glazing. The glorious 22-foot diameter rose window which could not be restored, were replaced using laser-cut, solid mahogany components to replicate the original design. Once worrisome eyesore. the church is once again a beacon to its community.
Most Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church
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 belfry tower, 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 envelop. The facades' granite stone were numbered, and their positions recorded. they were removed so the walls could be waterproofed and then rebuilt. monumental original steel farmed stained-glass windows were carefully removed, rebuilt off-site, and returned. The peacock screens (fabricated by Alcoa in 1932 when cast aluminum was 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.
Currents News - Diocese of Brooklyn
PROSPECT HEIGHTS — After decades of renovating churches across the Diocese of Brooklyn, a New York City architectural firm with strong Catholic ties is getting commemorated by one of the premier preservation organizations in the state. Zaskorski & Associates, Architects, has earned the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award, the highest award given by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, for the restoration of St. John the Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant and Most Precious Blood Church in Astoria. Taking eight years and 15 years, respectively, for complete analysis and reconstruction, the restorations called for complex repairs, from the stained glass windows to the rooftops. Both projects were completed in 2023. “It’s on a preservation level. It’s more than just a repair. After working on something for 15 years, it’s nice when someone says you did a good job,” Carlo Zaskorski, the firm’s founder, a Catholic, told The Tablet. The New York Landmarks Conservancy will honor the recipients of the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award on Wednesday, April 10.
UJA Federation New York
UJA campground sites serve thousands of campers each summer, including children with special needs with free camp for children with cancer and their siblings. Z&A developed master plans to modernize the three sites, which begun implementation in 2018. The projects’ design scope includes revitalization of existing structures, construction of new pavilions, and construction of new pool centers. Other improvements include a new modern health center, spacious home bases with renovated restrooms and changing rooms, and refurbished basketball and tennis courts and ball fields. New aquatic complexes enable more frequent and longer swim periods. The three sites combined are approximately 243 acres. Working with Zubatkin Owner Representation, the Z&A team have developed a phased architectural solution that works within the client’s budgets and with the limitation that each phase of construction be performed and completed between September and June of each year.