Facelift for the Provincial House

Facelift for the Provincial House

The provincial headquarters of the Salesians' Eastern U.S. Province, a.k.a. the province of St. Philip the Apostle, is a handsome granite house built in the mid-1860s by industrialist John Stephenson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stephenson_(coachbuilder)) and used as his summer home. It passed thru several hands before the SDBs bought the property on New Rochelle's Echo Bay in 1919.

Besides province headquarters, i.e., the site of the provincial superior's office, over the years the house has served as the novitiate, the residence for part of the staff of Salesian High School, the school's cafeteria, the residence of various Salesians with province jobs, and their offices.

Rear of the provincial residence

In addition to the sturdy stone of the exterior, the house is graced with some fine woodwork. That, of course, is less durable than the stone. One might suppose that it's also vulnerable to the salt air associated with proximity to Long Island Sound. So every once in a while that wood requires quite a refurbishing. It was last done in preparation for the visit of Fr. Juan Vecchi, the SDB Rector Major (1996-2002), in 1998.

On May 6 we undertook the work anew: having all the exterior woodwork scraped down, repaired as needed, and repainted. Here are a couple of photos of the first day's work.