Archive
SUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTERS
ADVERTISE| CLASSIFIEDS| JOBS| E-TRIB
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS NETWORK NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS NETWORK
Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Christ Church Fox Chapel gets a new look | TribLIVE.com
News

Christ Church Fox Chapel gets a new look

Tawnya Panizzi
Tawnya Panizzi
herchurch1012115jpg
The Rev. Alex Shuttleworth reads the Bible on a newly covered sofa in the renovated sitting room at Christ Church Fox Chapel on Squaw Run Road. His reflection is in a restored mirror from the original estate.
herchurch4012115jpg
Landscapers prune large oak trees at Christ Church Fox Chapel as part of a cleanup to enhance the grounds where prayer services will be held in the spring. Seen in the foreground are original lead windows that have been restored.
herchurch5012115jpg
The Rev. Alex Shuttleworth recenty found original blueprints of the church during extensive renovations. Seen in the background is an updated fireplace where parishioners meet in a large social room after services at Christ Church Fox Chapel.

A $450,000 renovation to Christ Church Fox Chapel has fixed more than the chipped paint and cramped entrance at the historic site along Squaw Run Road East.

It has created a sense of optimism, said the Rev. Alex Shuttleworth, pastor at the 70-year-old church.

“It's giving us more energy, a new vision,” Shuttleworth said about the structure that originally was a mansion owned by the Gould family. The residence was turned into a church in the 1940s.

Church members celebrated a grand reopening just before Christmas, with nearly 200 people singing carols around the piano in the adjoining narthex.

“We had a fire burning, and everyone was able to stay and enjoy coffee,” Shuttleworth said. “That couldn't have happened before.”

Work done by Wexford-based Landau Building Co. began in summer and included a lobby reconfiguration.

Crews transformed four small parlors into one large social area with a piano and electric fireplace. A gray slate floor replaced warped hardwood.

“What's really funny is that we found blueprints by the original architects from the 1940s and they specified gray slate,” Shuttleworth said. “They couldn't afford it back then but we have it now, the same as what they intended.”

Construction costs were covered by savings and donations. Services during the six-month work period were held in Fellowship Hall.

Shuttleworth said the renovation was designed so that the facility would match the church's mission of welcoming newcomers. In two years, membership has climbed 40 percent, from 100 to 140.

“This is quite amazing,” said Connie Guggenheimer, a member for nearly three decades. “It's opened up this building with light.”

Work also included bright paint in the third-floor youth ministry rooms, where toddlers to teens can hang out and play board games or watch the flat-screen TV.

On the bottom floor, restrooms were added and made wheelchair-accessible. A camera was installed in the sanctuary so that people can view services from one of the high-back chairs in the narthex.

“We watch people come in and their mouths drop open,” said Assistant Pastor Connie Hughes.

Shuttleworth said the project surpassed expectations

“It was all about being open and welcoming to all and making the most of our setting,” he said. “Now everybody's staying longer on Sundays and there's much more hanging out, talking about what we can do.”

For more information on the church, an Anglican fellowship, go to christchurchfoxchapel.org.

Tawnya Panizzi is a staff writer for the Tribune Review. Reach her at 412-782-2121, ext. 2 or at tpanizzi@tribweb.com.