LOVELL – About a half-dozen volunteers were busy cleaning and sprucing up the interior of the former Congregational Church on Christian Hill Road this week.
Bright paper flowers were attached to each pew, and a stage area, where once the altar stood, was being prepared for a cabaret musical performance to benefit the preservation and maintenance of the 154-year-old Greek Revival building.
Tonight’s performance is the official fund-raising kickoff that many supporters of the building hope will lead to major repairs and renovations that are a long time in coming.
The building is now known as the Brick Church for the Performing Arts.
Lots has happened to get to this point since the solidly built church was placed on the list of Maine’s most endangered historic properties in 2003 by Maine Preservation.
Roberta Chandler, who grew up in the church and had served as Lovell’s town clerk for many years, decided it was time to do something.
“It just dawned on me. The only thing is had been used for was concerts. Maybe we could start with something like that,” she said.
She, along with United Church of Christ trustee Renee Dutton, applied to Maine Preservation to get the church on the endangered properties list. Soon after, an anonymous donor provided funds to get preservation efforts under way.
The church had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
Then, last year, the Brick Church Performing Arts Center was established as a nonprofit group. The ownership of the church was turned over the group in December by the United Church of Christ.
Soon after the endangered property designation in 2003, Chandler sent out about 40 letters looking for people interested in preserving the church. She received an overwhelming response.
Along with the 10-person board of directors, another 25 or so volunteers are helping with the building, and soon, said Chandler, she hopes an advisory committee will be formed as well.
The group plans a major fund-raising drive to get the estimated $200,000 needed to stabilize the building, Chandler said.
She is the president of the board of the performing arts center, and the “fearless leader,” said Sandra Bell, a member of the board and enthusiastic supporter of the building.
“I love architecture, art and history,” said Bell, who served as chairwoman of the Historic District of Wellesley, Mass., before moving to Lovell seven years ago. “This is one of the finest examples of Greek revival architecture in Oxford County.”
Sarah Dube, co-owner of the Lovell Art Center and another board member who was busy decorating the pews, said the church is an important part of the community.
“It’s beautiful and I want to be a part of saving it,” she said.
Saturday’s musical performance is not unusual at the church, which stopped offering regular worship services in the 1960s when it was closed in favor of using the Center Lovell United Church of Christ. That traditional wooden church a few miles up the road has running water, heat and sewer. The brick church does not.
Eventually, the brick church may also have these modern conveniences, but for now, preservation is the key.
The United Church of Christ offers a summer music series at the brick church, something that will continue. On and off and on throughout the years, weddings or funerals have also taken place there.
Chandler, who is also a past president of the Lovell Historical Society, said performances will likely be seasonal for a while.
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