PROVINCETOWN — The Provincetown skyline was transformed in early April by what looked like a new 10-story structure: a bright-green encrustation from certain vantages, a translucent scrim from others.
It was the scaffolding and netting needed to repair and repaint the 165-year-old steeple of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, and it proved to be a very temporary landmark. In fact, it will soon be dismantled.
Like other structures in our wind-beaten town, the elegant “Christopher Wren steeple” (named for the great English architect who had nothing to do with it) must be repainted regularly. The job this year fell to Painters Pride Inc. of Framingham, specialists in church maintenance, which has routinely repainted the exterior of the main meeting house since 2015.
The green cocoon around the steeple is 118 feet high and 72 feet wide at its widest point. The netting is made of high-density polyethylene plastic. It keeps passersby safe from debris and workers somewhat buffered from wind and rain. Green just happened to be the color that was available.
Good news awaited the contractors once the scaffolding was in place. “The deterioration wasn’t as bad as expected on the woodwork,” said Will Hildreth, the treasurer of the U.U. Meeting House, “so there has primarily been sanding and repainting in place.” The copper roof is still working well and is watertight. The weathervane and the lotus-shaped finial at its base were regilded and returned to the summit of the steeple.
Under the watch of the foreman, Geovani Souza, workers sanded the wood — much of it mahogany — and applied an oil-based primer coat followed by two finishing coats of white acrylic paint. “Painting the steeple is our single most expensive capital project,” Hildreth said, “so we hope to get at least 10 years out of the job.”
The estimated cost is $140,000, about 70 percent of which covers the scaffolding rental. “We finance it through a combination of capital reserves from our endowment, and donations from our members and friends,” Hildreth said.
