As part of our ongoing Save Our Sacred Sites efforts, we know there are several Catholic Churches closing in Niagara Falls, NY. We also know there are many other Churches that are at risk and/or have recently closed.
We want to be a resource for you and your Church. While our tools are limited due to time and financial restraints, we want to help if we can. For example, once approved, our Local Landmark effort allows Churches to apply for important funding through NYS for repairs! We can do those local landmark applications for you – for a small fee to cover our costs of research and application.
So if you have a Church in your community that you want to see saved, please fill out this google form to let us know of the details and we will get back to you!
Also, if you didn’t catch it, we did a great lunch and learn with Monte Anderson, a Dallas-based Developer who has renovated several churches, and our Executive Director, Bernice Radle, on repurposing church spaces. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp6f7r0KLUY
Love,
Emily, Bernice, Laura, Constance, and the rest of the PBN team.
It is time to announce the winners of the 2024 Preservation Awards!
We have 12 awardees this year that span across advocacy, craft, residential restoration, commercial restoration, emerging preservation leadership, lifetime achievement, and more. We will be highlighting each of the awardees over the next few weeks – to entice you to attend our award ceremony on May 30th at the Buffalo History Museum. Come and celebrate the preservation wins with us! You can get your tickets here.
Preservation Craft: Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House: Exterior Art Environment Preservation, Preservation Craft, Niagara County
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Prophet Isaiah Robertson was a self-taught carpenter and artist from Jamaica, who moved to Niagara Falls in 2004. When he first came to the United States, he started in the construction business by renovating and reselling houses and was eventually approached by Mount Erie Baptist Church to finish the walls in a section of their church. Prophet Isaiah instead advocated for his vision for space, which included intricate wood carvings. Thus began his artistic career in Niagara Falls, which was then amplified at his home at 1308 Ontario Avenue.
A deeply religious person, Prophet Isaiah dedicated his home to representing his prophecies artistically, through wooden cutouts, painted murals, intricate rock formations, and a 25-foot tall wooden cross and altarpiece at the head of his driveway. Wood was his primary material, as it represented both his profession and had religious symbolism. Prophet Isaiah did not consider himself an artist, stating that the “Spirit took over and moved his hands.” He worked with no plans or sketches, and would simply build, paint, and create as his spirit moved him, which frequently included painting over his prior designs and creating new pieces.
Upon Prophet Isaiah’s passing in 2020, the Prophet Isaiah Robertson’s Second Coming House became a preservation project for the Kohler Foundation in 2021. Since the 1970s, the preservation of art environments and self-taught artists has been a major focus of the Foundation. They have been widely regarded as at the forefront of the self-taught art movements, and have received many awards for their preservation work, including the Sally Hardy Eager Historic Preservation Achievement Award and the 2003 Wisconsin Governor’s Award. The Kohler Foundation has gifted several art environments to local organizations, like the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, ensuring the art will be cared for in perpetuity and be accessible to the public.
Shortly after taking on the property, the Kohler Foundation took immediate action to preserve the exterior art environment and conserve the artist residence. This included building a partnership with the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area, who became the steward of the property and artist’s residence in 2023. One of the first steps was to contract with B.R. Howard and Associates, who led the effort to preserve the various components of the exterior art pieces as much as possible, and to replicate those pieces which had been damaged beyond repair. These replications were made out of materials better equipped to withstand the harsh winters of Niagara Falls and were created to perfectly mirror the original pieces. Using an extremely meticulous process that involved hundreds of photographs, precise measurements, drone footage, and model recreations of the site, the team at B.R. Howard and Associates were able to perfectly replicate the exterior art at the site, down to the slight imperfections from the artist and individual brushstrokes on the backs of art pieces.
The entirety of the exterior art environment was documented, measured, and photographed before being disassembled and brought to B.R. Howard’s facility in Pennsylvania. There, they processed thousands of pieces, including wooden pieces, rocks, silk flowers, and glass candles. For the pieces they could conserve, they did, matching colors and repairing as necessary. For the pieces that could not be conserved, they created exact replicas, including matching the symbols, sizes, shapes, and colors meticulously. This process involved an exacting process that meant creating pieces that were “perfectly imperfect” – as Prophet Isaiah was an artist that worked without plans and utilized scrap materials, many of the art pieces included angles that were slightly off-center, brushstrokes that were not perfectly contained, and designs that did not perfectly match on either side. Undaunted, the team at B.R. Howard utilized their photographs, measurements, and scale models to recreate each piece as Prophet Isaiah had left it.
The re-installation process was equally painstaking, as original drone photos using grids are referenced to perfectly position the returning art to its original locations. Additional work was also done to secure the art in its original location and ensure that winter storms or damaging winds would not adversely affect the site. There was on-site work as well during the re-installation process; while many of the replicated pieces were hand-painted at their facility, final touches and additional hand-painting were done on-site. The re-installation was completed in October of 2023.
In addition to assisting with the preservation and replication of the exterior art pieces, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has led the construction and renovation efforts for this artist residence since 2022. After securing several permits, a variety of repairs and improvements were made to the site, including a new roof, new windows, and the installation of an ADA-compliant ramp to improve accessibility. Importantly, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area also installed on-site security in early 2023, which has allowed for remote monitoring of the site. Work has also been done to equip the site for public tours and other programs, including the installation of the internet, the creation of an operational site plan, and the development of community programming.
The Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has dedicated its resources to the preservation and revitalization of the North End of Niagara Falls and the Highland Community for over five years. The North End of Niagara Falls has been decimated by urban renewal efforts, the demolition of the built environment, and the decay of the Main Street Business District. The Highland Community, the traditional hub of the Black community in Niagara Falls, has been similarly affected by urban blight, leading to demolished structures, diminishing businesses, and vacant lots. It is critically important that these two areas are targeted for preservation and revitalization efforts, as the population ages and the memories of when these areas were vibrant centers of Niagara Falls life dwindles. Toward that end, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area has sought to preserve these memories and revitalize these spaces by engaging with thorough hands-on community engagement, public art installations, and restoring iconic landmarks.
Through all of our projects, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area positions community involvement, expertise and needs at the forefront and takes a collaborative approach to developing experiences that are woven together with the past, present and future of our communities. As the stewards of the Prophet Isaiah Second Coming House, the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area is dedicated to preserving this unique art environment, and creating a community-driven heritage center, wherein visitors and locals alike can not only learn about art environments, art preservation, and Prophet Isaiah Robertson, but also come together to celebrate the Highland Community.
Additional information can be found on the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area’s website:
Congrats to the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area for their passion and dedication to this project. We are grateful for you and your efforts, truly! Please keep up the good work and let us know how we can help. Watch more on this effort here!
