The Episcopal Church of the Advocate has begun work on the move of the St. Philip’s chapel, currently in Germanton, NC, to the Advocate’s Homestead Road campus. Work on the building move began on Monday, October 1st, and will culminate in the arrival of St. Philip’s in Chapel Hill in several weeks.
Blake Movers, of “Moving Midway” fame, has been contracted to move the chapel from Germanton to Chapel Hill. The chapel, in several weatherproofed and reinforced pieces, will travel approximately 160 miles on secondary roads to Homestead Road, where it will be re-assembled.
In Chapel Hill, the chapel will, for the first time in its history, be outfitted with electricity, HVAC, and running water. It will serve as a welcoming place of worship for the Advocate, as well as a meeting place for the wider community and an intimate and acoustically resonant performance space.
St. Phillip’s was consecrated as an Episcopal Church in 1891, and housed a small congregation for several decades, until the 1980s, when regular worship there ceased. Following the dissolution of the congregation, the chapel itself was maintained with funds from the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and oversight from local Episcopalians. In recent years, those efforts waned, with no maintenance having been performed in several years. The chapel at present stands in need of a new sacristy, some $10,000 worth of restoration to maintain its stained glass windows, and provisions for accessibility for people with disabilities.
The Advocate, founded in 2003, stands ready to restore the Carpenter Gothic building and to preserve its architectural integrity. Lisa G. Fischbeck, founding vicar of the Advocate, said, “As a 21st century Episcopal congregation that values history and tradition, yet loves to make it new, we are excited and humbled to be called to be stewards of this stunning 19th-century Episcopal church building. We take seriously the challenge to tell its story and preserve the simple beauty of its architecture while making it accessible to all and usable day and night throughout the year.”
After a difficult and lengthy deliberation process by the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, which sought input from the local community, the decision to move St. Philip’s aims to restore the chapel to the purpose for which it was consecrated: to house an Episcopal worship community.
Said the Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, “St. Philip’s, Germanton, a wonderful church building that has long been an historic church building of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, will now participate in writing a new chapter of history. Soon the sounds of babies crying and children running through it will be heard. Soon new followers of Jesus will be baptized in that building again. Soon offerings to feed the hungry will be taken up in that building. Soon the urgent needs of the world will be lifted up in prayer in that building. Soon a vibrant congregation composed greatly of young adults committed to following the way of Jesus will worship God there in order that they may leave that place to go into the world to serve and witness in Jesus’ name. And because of all that, a historic building will have a new future, playing a part in God’s work of creating a new future for the human family.”