Church Events

October 21, 2004 - A reception and lecture by Jeanne Kolva about the work of New Brunswick architect Alexander Merchant were held in the evening at the New Brunswick Free Public Library. Mr. Merchant worked as an architect from 1897 until his death in 1952. The occasion for the exhibit was the discovery of a large number of his architectural drawings which had been unavailable to the public for a number of years after his death. He had designed a number of buildings in the New Brunswick area including some of the city's public school buildings and facilities at Rutgers University's Douglass College. What is important insofar as SS. Peter and Paul Church is concerned is the fact that it was Mr. Merchant (photo below center) who was the architect of our present Church. Shown in the report that follows are a number of original sketches pertaining to the construction our Church.

You may click on the two photos immediately below to view enlargements.

Above left is Mr. Merchant's line drawing, sans icons, of the proposed Iconostasis of SS. Peter and Paul Church. Above right is a photo of the Iconostasis of our Church as it appeared in October, 2004.

The New Brunswick Free Public Library was constructed with a gift from industrialist Andrew Carnegie, whose portrait hangs in the entrance to the library (photo immediately above). The library has both an older section and a newer section in which the exhibit and lecture were held. In the photo above left the entrance to the older portion of the library displays some classic architecture itself. Above right, the library stacks in the older portion of the building appear much the same as they did some forty years ago when your reporter used the library as a student. Photo above center shows that the library is no stranger to stained glass as is seen in the ceiling above the main desk. Photo below left shows that portion of the display devoted to SS. Peter and Paul Church's drawings. To the right of our Church's portion of the exhibit were the drawings of a firehouse in South River which Mr. Merchant had also prepared. Photo below right shows our Church's display in a closer view. Librarian, Mr. Robert Miller, embellished the display with some photos of the exterior and interior of our Church taken from our Church's Website.

Photos above and below show drawings of the Iconostasis (above) and a representative cupola (below) The distracting discoloration of paper that accompanies age has been removed through the magic of digital photography. These drawings thus appear perhaps as Mr. Merchant himself would have known them.

You may click on the last two photos below to view enlargements of the drawings.

The above segment of this photo report completes the description of the display as it occurred on the night of October 28. Librarian Miller invited this reporter back to the library one week after the event to see and photograph those items pertaining to our Church which were not displayed but are in the safekeeping of the library. All of the materials presented below constitute those materials unseen by the general public but important nonetheless to the history of our Church. Many photos are presented in enlarged form as well in deference to architects, historians, model builders, and those who may have studied mechanical drawing in school.

In the following block of seven photos, you may click on photos 1 and 3-6 to view enlargements of the architectural drawings.

The photo above was left unaltered as to its discoloration so that the viewer might see the notation in red at the bottom of the document referring to the delivery of steel for construction of our Church in September, 1916. In the photos both above and below many details of our Church are clearly visible and readily apparent. This reporter was in search of an architectural rendering of the entire Church - much as one today might see an architect's rendering of a proposed building as completed - but none was to be found, at least not in the custody of the New Brunswick Public Library. Many thanks to Mr. Robert Miller for his display of materials pertaining to SS. Peter and Paul Church at the public showing and for his hospitality a second time in making available for the benefit of our Parish those drawings not seen publicly.

In the block of six photos below, you may click on photos 1-3 and 5-6 to view enlargements of the drawings.

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Copyright © 2004, Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, South River, NJ