Church of the Presidents Restoration Project Gets Funding Help

The Saint James Chapel restoration project recently got a shot in the arm from the county.

The Monmouth County Historical Commission announced that has awarded a preservation grant to the Long Branch Historical Museum Association, which is overseeing the renovations to the church, also known as the Church of the Presidents.

The building has been closed since the 1990s for a $3.6 million restoration project that is still not quite halfway finished.

The $7,400 historic preservation grant will help move the process along and will be used to replace the siding on the north wall of the church.

Projects eligible for funding are preservation, restoration or rehabilitation of historic structures – usually 50 years or older – that are accessible to the public.

The association has owned the building since 1953, using it as their museum and headquarters, but in 1999 was forced to close it to the public because it was in danger of collapsing, Schnorbus said. Since then, less than two of the four proposed phases of the renovation have been completed.

The church was built in 1879 as an offshoot of the Saint James Episcopal Church on Broadway in Long Branch for wealthy residents living near the beach and, over the years, has had Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Benjamin Harrison, and Woodrow Wilson attend services there, said Joan Schnorbus of the Long Branch Historical Museum Association. All but Grant were in office at the time they stepped foot in the church, Schnorbus said.

Schnorbus said once the exterior is finished, the church's old windows, which have been in storage since the project began, will be reinstalled. Only then can the interior renovations begin, Schnorbus said. And then after that, the other exterior buildings on the property will be turned into bathrooms and each will be equipped with disability access and ramps, she said.