FORT GREENE — Father Henry Torres recalled how just a couple of years ago, motorists on the elevated Brooklyn-Queens Expressway could look down on Mary of Nazareth Parish and behold a church with a dingy facade and decrepit roof.
“There are people who have lived in this neighborhood for years, and, given the condition of the church, they thought it was closed,” said Father Torres, pastor since 2021.
Therefore, Father Torres and parishioners embarked on a major renovation project that’s expected to wrap by year’s end. The roof is new. The facade has been thoroughly cleaned and painted. Interior renovations are underway.
But the work has already won recognition.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy will honor Mary of Nazareth Parish on April 16 with a Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award.
Father Torres said he is excited to receive the accolade during the ceremony at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine Church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
Still, he noted, the renovations involve more than making the historic church more appealing to attract more parishioners.
“It really is a preservation of history,” Father Torres said. “This area, at one point, was predominantly Irish. The Italians came later, and then the Latinos.
“This is where they found their refuge, they found their faith, they found their strength.”
Mary of Nazareth was completed in 1877 under a different name — Sacred Heart Parish. Its Gothic Revival design was drawn by Thomas Houghton, a son-in-law and protégé of the famed 19th-century church builder, Patrick Keely.
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Sacred Heart was one of several Catholic churches in Fort Greene — a bedroom community for people employed at the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard.
However, over nearly 150 years, the other parishes closed due to shifting demographics. Sacred Heart absorbed those congregations, and, in 2008, changed its name to Mary of Nazareth.
Father Torres resolved not to let the memories of the other parishes fade into obscurity.
To that end, the altar from St. Lucy-St. Patrick Parish, which closed in 2021, will be used against the back wall of the sanctuary at Mary of Nazareth.
RELATED: St. Lucy-St. Patrick Shuttered Due to Changing Demographics, Costly Repairs
The revamped sacred space will also feature an image of the Sacred Heart to honor the parish’s former name, as well as portraits of St. Michael and St. Edward the Confessor.
Those saints were the patrons of two other Fort Greene parishes that merged in 1942 but later closed and consolidated with Sacred Heart Parish in 2008. That’s when Sacred Heart’s name was changed to Mary of Nazareth.
“The history of all of the churches is represented here,” Father Torres said.
Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said the Lucy G. Moses Awards — or the “Lucys” — help showcase great preservation projects and the people who do the work.
“We modestly call them the ‘Oscars of preservation,’ ” Breen said. “We were very happy to see Mary of Nazareth come before us. We’re great fans of Patrick Keely and Thomas Houghton, but this is a lovely example of Gothic Revival architecture.”
She said the parish is especially worthy of the award for its rebuilding of the facade, the side-brick masonry parapets, and the monumental rose window. Stained glass windows were removed, cleaned, and reinstalled, Breen said.
“I think the people have done such a beautiful job at Mary of Nazareth,” Breen said.
Overseeing the work is Zaskorski & Associates Architects, which also handled the renovation of another property in the Diocese of Brooklyn, St. Raphael Church in Long Island City, which also received a Lucy award last year.
RELATED: St. Raphael Church Honored for NYC Preservation Efforts
She added that “ecclesiastical architecture” is some of the finest in America.
“It shows immigration patterns,” she said. “And so many of these buildings offer social services or cultural programs that help people beyond the congregation. They’re a real anchor to their communities.
“And Mary of Nazareth has been doing that near the Brooklyn Navy Yard for nearly 150 years.”
Father Torres said his renovation to-do list includes replacing the bells. He recalled how a bell company representative described how peeling chimes “give voice” to a parish.
“So, if we are able to get bells, it would serve as a sort of announcement — an announcement that we’re here,” Father Torres said. “Now, for everyone who’s looking for a parish to be home, they can contribute their histories to be part of Mary of Nazareth’s history.”
