Trinity Wall Street stands alone near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan, New York City, and survived the tragic events of 9-11. This historic church was in great need of a variety of upgrades and complete conservation and restoration of the Chancel, Nave, and exterior. Rugo was selected to dismantle and conserve the Astor Altar based on our extensive experience in stone and mosaic conservation and restoration. Our task was to carefully dismantle the marble and mosaic, which had originally been installed with the veneer panels of the Astor Altar. These mosaic panels were created in the 1870s by acclaimed Italian mosaic artist Antonio Salviatti and were considered priceless.
We transported the panels to our mosaic studio and carefully conserved them by replacing rusted iron x cross braces and replacing the x crosses with offset aluminum honeycomb panels. The surface was thoroughly cleaned and consolidated. The missing mosaic pieces were replaced, including the gemstones of the central Pantocrator panel. In addition to the altar mosaics, Rugo also performed a complete restoration of the three rear wall panels which displayed the words HOLY HOLY HOLY and Alpha and Omega. We also created three new rear wall panels to match the original panels adjacent to the original location of the rear altar. Rugo’s work and precision to detail has been highly regarded by the Owner, architect, and contractor,
Location: New York, NY
Completion: 2019
Owner: Trinity Church of New York City
Architect: Murphy Burnham & Buttrick Architects
General Contractor: Schiame Construction
Size: 500 sqft
Services: Dismantle, clean, conserve, modify, install historic mosaic panels
