Saving Grace: St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church

Over the past year, HCF has been working alongside the congregation of St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church (c.1850), located at 91 Anson Street, through our new Saving Grace Initiative. The dedicated congregation has been diligently pursuing grants and funding to restore the church’s extraordinary historic sanctuary, ensuring its legacy endures for generations to come. To support the congregation, the Foundation was able to bring in trusted contractors and experts to provide cost estimates for needed preservation work and offer technical advice and support.

As a part of this effort, first-year students at Clemson University's Master’s program in Historic Preservation (MSHP) dedicated an entire semester to documenting St. John’s as part of the required IDC (Investigation, Documentation, Conservation) course. This work included multiple site visits, in-depth research into the congregation’s history, the creation of measured drawings of the church sanctuary, and paint analysis. This kind of comprehensive analysis and renderings of the church, as it stands today, is crucial in understanding the buildings’ needs when applying for grants.

Now complete, the final report is impressive and comprehensive.  It provides a detailed documentation of the church’s architecture, materials, and condition, and establishes a strong foundation for future preservation work and grant applications.  The MSHP student work was presented at a recent meeting (below) at the Cigar Factory and was well-received by the congregation and April Wood, HCF's Director of Preservation. This report will be accessioned into the Foundation's archives to inform future preservationists.

Historic Charleston Foundation is proud to work alongside our partners in preservation to support St. John's Reformed Episcopal Church and other historic congregations in Charleston. Still in its infancy, the Saving Grace Initiative has just started to explore the various ways that the Foundation can support the preservation of Charleston's historic African American churches and their congregations. You can support this initiative, and other preservation and advocacy work, with a donation to Historic Charleston Foundation.