The steeple of Calvary Baptist Church soared 160 feet into the heavens for half a century, a lacy, rust-colored spike on Washington's skyline. The glorious spire, for a time the tallest in the city, came down in 1913 after tornado-force winds twisted and cracked the cast-iron frame, sending chunks through the sanctuary roof.
The congregation capped the tower with a roof, and it, too, fell victim to the elements. A lightning bolt struck the red-brick edifice in 1947, and the damaged section, including the clock that many Washingtonians had depended on for decades, was dismantled.
At noon today, if weather conditions allow, the church at Eighth and H streets NW will regain its status as one of the city's most prominent landmarks. A full-size replica of the original 1866 spire will be placed on a reconstructed clock tower and belfry. Once again, the Gothic revival church designed by Adolph Cluss, one of 19th-century Washington's premier architects, will be identified from miles away.
"To us, the steeple symbolizes the commitment of the congregation to be here and be a vital part of the community," said the Rev. Amy K. Butler, 34, Calvary's senior pastor. "It also symbolizes the renewal of the neighborhood."
Calvary has been a force on the District's religious scene since its inception. Founded by abolitionists in 1862, the church for generations has been a leader in race relations and ministerial outreach in a community that changed radically from a thriving commercial and residential area through the 1950s to a run-down, crime-infested neighborhood.
Like many District congregations, Calvary lost most of its members to the suburbs in the late 20th century. Unlike many churches, it refused to leave the city and has continued programs for elementary and high school students, patients of St. Elizabeths Hospital, the homeless and a growing immigrant population.
Now, with businesses returning to the area and thousands of residential apartments planned or built, Calvary has positioned itself to become once again a thriving spiritual center, Butler said.
Three years ago, Calvary began an $11 million renovation and construction project on its offices and educational areas, most of it financed by the sale of a parking lot to developer Trammell Crow Co. The reconstruction of the steeple, required by the city's historic preservation office as part of the overall construction plan, will be the first part of the building project to be completed.
The 60-foot replica was fabricated over five months by Unlimited Designs of Salt Lake City, which has made hundreds of spires for Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints buildings throughout the world.
The method was a masterpiece of modern technology, said Baird M. Smith of Quinn Evans Architects, a preservation specialist with offices in Washington and Ann Arbor, Mich. Smith started with an aerial photograph of Calvary taken in the mid-1860s by Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, probably from a hot-air balloon.
The image was digitally enhanced and divided into 15 sections that could be printed full size. These sections were posted on the walls of the Quinn Evans office in Washington, then traced by hand. The specifications were transferred to computer-assisted design software, and a computer model was sent to Salt Lake City.
Unlimited Designs' computers connected to a router, which carved large chunks of wood into 56 five- to eight-foot sections, Smith said. These wood replicas were used to create fiber glass molds into which the fiber glass construction material was poured. The sections were then held attached to a structural aluminum frame with aluminum plates and stainless steel screws.
Meanwhile, the Clark Construction Group reconstructed the 40-foot-tall clock and belfry section. At the top of the belfry is a 33-inch-thick slab of reinforced concrete to which the 11,000-pound steeple will be secured by 64 bolts five-eighths of an inch thick.
If the steeple goes anywhere, it won't be because of wind, Smith said. The new spire weighs about one-fourth as much as a comparable cast-iron structure and will be placed on a tower that is connected to the ground with a series of metal rods and other materials that exceed building standards, said Michael Lloyd, Clark's senior project manager.
"We wanted to make sure that what happened before doesn't happen again," he said. In addition, a system for deflecting lightning strikes will be installed.
The spire arrived Monday night after a 2,000-mile trip through 11 states on an 85-foot-long flatbed truck. Some commuters may have seen the steeple Monday afternoon at the Seminary Road exit off Interstate 395 in Virginia, where it was parked for several hours while the driver waited for police escorts to take him into the city after rush hour.
Smith, who has worked on the preservation of two other Cluss buildings -- Eastern Market and the Smithsonian Institution's Arts and Industries Building -- called the craftsmanship on the spire "absolutely exceptional. It's beyond any standard dictated for precision, quality and color."
Within the next few weeks, three eight-foot-square clock faces will be added to the tower to re-create the clock that many Washingtonians relied on until construction of the taller -- it is 315 feet -- Post Office Pavilion in 1899. The clocks will face north, east and west.
Today's installation is expected to last about two hours, Lloyd said. The main obstacle would be wind gusts that exceed 5 miles per hour, which would make the tower "blow like a sail" when it is lifted by the 180-foot crane, Lloyd said.
If the wind is that strong, installation might have to be postponed, probably until tomorrow afternoon, he said.
Workers from Unlimited Designs of Salt Lake City take away braces that hold the new spire, a replica of the original, on the truck. This aerial photograph, taken in the mid-1860s by Civil War photographer Matthew Brady, informed the re-creation of the lacy, rust-colored steeple. Brady probably used a hot-air balloon and probably was commissioned by Adolph Cluss, Calvary's architect.A new, 60-foot spire is delivered to the Calvary Baptist Church on Monday to replace the one that was all but destroyed in 1913. Senior project manager Michael Lloyd of Clark Construction Group, right, stands on top of the platform where the new spire will be placed.
