St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, located on Park Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets in Manhattan, is one of New York City's most distinctive landmark religious structures. Founded in 1835, the congregation has occupied its current building since 1918. Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the church's Great Dome in 1914 -- a double-shell structure with eight exterior planes finished in colored marble, granite, and terra cotta tile, topped with a gilded cross. Graciano Corporation performed comprehensive dome restoration and masonry rehabilitation at the church, completed in 2017.
Scope of Work
The restoration focused on the Great Dome and surrounding masonry, addressing deteriorated cladding, waterproofing failures, and masonry conditions throughout.
- Removal of deteriorated cementitious cladding
- Removal of deteriorated terra cotta cladding
- Waterproofing with steel-reinforced mortar application
- Terra cotta mosaic tiling installation
- Masonry, stone, and terra cotta roof repairs
- Selective masonry and stone replacement
- Masonry surface rehabilitation
- Individual brick replacement
- Water cleaning
- Hand scrubbing
- Sealants
- Masonry cleaning
About the Project
The Great Dome of St. Bartholomew's Church is a double-shell structure -- an outer dome of eight exterior planes and an inner lightweight tile dome -- finished in colored marble, granite, and ornamental terra cotta tile. Goodhue based his design on the dome he created for the California State Building at the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, adapting it to the compressed footprint of a midtown Manhattan block.
After decades of exposure to the urban environment, the dome's cementitious and terra cotta cladding had deteriorated to the point where both waterproofing integrity and aesthetic character were compromised. Graciano's craftsmen removed all deteriorated material and applied a steel-reinforced waterproofing mortar substrate before installing new terra cotta mosaic tiling to restore the dome's visual character and long-term weather protection.
Beyond the dome itself, Graciano performed selective masonry and stone repairs throughout the church exterior, including brick replacement, masonry cleaning, and surface rehabilitation at the building's facades. The work required careful coordination with the landmark review process and strict adherence to historic preservation standards appropriate to a New York City landmark structure.
