New lease on life for historic Lynn church

LYNN – Like an archaeological discovery revealing secrets from bygone ages, the former Temple Anshai Sfard is providing a lesson in local history to Francis Manzano and other workers slowly restoring the South Common Street church.”It’s incredible,” the Lynn electrician said last week as he helped co-worker Joseph Gesualdi pick through old knob-and-tube electrical wiring strung throughout the brick building.Built in 1871 and occupying nearly 19,000 square feet at the corner of South Common and Huss Court, the brick church has sat empty and unused for more than 10 years. Boston-based developer Tyler Pam bought the church for $75,000 in 2010 and entered into a $500,000 mortgage agreement with a Commercial Street church.Iglesia Evangelica Luz y Vida’s congregation currently worships in space inside the ERC Wiping Products building on Bennett Street, but contractor Marcos Devers took out a city building permit to restore the former temple on the church’s behalf in September.The permit estimates restoration work will cost almost $700,000 and include “exterior and interior renovations ? to include accessible accommodations, new mechanical systems and fire protection systems.”Manzano and Gesualdi started working in the South Common Street building two weeks ago and Manzano said seven or eight other workers are doing other work in the building, including steeple restoration.”They are pushing to get it open soon,” he said.Ward 6 City Councilor Peter Capano is glad to see the big brick church survive demolition or fire in the 13 years since Temple Anshai Sfard’s congregation sold the building to a Boston veterans organization.”It hung around long enough for someone to take an interest in it,” he said.Scaffolding rises from the ground outside the temple to the steeple with plastic covering the scaffold to help secure workers from the cold. Walls in the 87-foot by 74-foot main worship hall are stripped down to wood lath and plaster dust covers the red upholstered pews lined up in rows under the light blue ceiling.Manzano and his partner found a tightly-rolled and tattered American flag in a stairwell stained with water damage and bird droppings. The church stained glass windows, including one adorned with a Star of David representing Anshai Sfard’s tenure in the building, remain intact.An old prayer book sits on a table in one of the building’s upstairs rooms near a box of youth religious instruction brochures and mementos from veterans’ organizations and Boy Scouts of America troops based in the temple in the 1950s.Manzano said workers are taking care to preserve temple relics.”We’re setting all of this aside,” Gesualdi added.Manzano said electrical work involved in restoring the church’s power supply ranges from rewiring and upgrading electricity sources to working with still-intact chandeliers and lamps.”It’s a huge challenge,” he said.City Historical Commissioner Kathy Wrynn and Capano said Iglesia’s restoration work will improve the Common and set a standard for protecting other local historic churches.”I think it’s great the way different denominations are at least able to maintain them instead of tearing them down,” Wrynn said. “As long as they’re saved, that’s great.”