As NCC membership dwindled to two dozen members
by the late 1990s, its leadership recognized the
LaFarge legacy as an opportunity for the church’s
preservation. In 1995, congregational members and
local professionals joined together to form the LaFarge
Restoration Fund at Newport Congregational Church
(LaFarge Fund), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization
dedicated to preserving the church interior and
ensuring accessibility for the public. The LaFarge
Fund’s board immediately attended to an emergent
situation: half of LaFarge’s opalescent glass windows
were in danger of disintegrating in situ. By 1997, they
had raised funds for the removal and storage of the
threatened windows to await restoration, where they
remain today.
In 2003-2004, NCC member Karen LaFrance and
current LaFarge Fund President Paul Miller re-ignited
the conversation about NCC’s long-term preservation.
Miller recalled how daunting the task seemed at
the time. The congregation would need to find the
partnerships necessary to ensure a sustainable future
for the building. In short, he summed up, “we needed a
pretty dynamic plan.”
LaFrance believed that the key to preserving Newport
Congregational Church was reconfiguring the LaFarge
Restoration Fund into a fully functional organization
overseeing the care of the building. But this shift would
not happen on its own. Thanks to her background in
nonprofit community development, she reached out to
Partners for Sacred Places’ President Bob Jaeger to
tap into the group’s resources and experience. The
LaFarge Fund began organizing support for a New
Dollars/New Partners for Your Sacred Place training
serving NCC and several other churches in the
region, eventually enlisting the support of Preserve
Rhode Island, a statewide nonprofit, as a funding
partner.
From 2008 to 2010, the congregation and the
LaFarge Fund participated in an extended New
Dollars/New Partners program. The training gave
lay leaders the background and practical skills to
develop a plan to preserve their building. “It was
a perfect fit, exactly what we needed,” LaFrance
recalls, noting how the experience opened
participants’ eyes to the possibilities of partnering
with outside organizations. Miller praised the program
as helpful for “analyzing what a church means to a
community, whether it’s social programs or artistic and
cultural heritage.” The latter was particularly important
for NCC. Although congregational activities had lagged
with the decline in membership, the building was an
artistic treasure.
The story of Newport Congregational
Church is one of vision and dedication.
With the resources and training provided
by Partners for Sacred Places, its
stewards were able to formulate a clear
plan for preserving their building and
safeguarding its cultural capital.
Throughout the training, the hope was to preserve
LaFarge’s work as a historical and cultural resource
for the community at large. The NCC team developed a
long-term, three-phase plan for the building’s future:
stabilization, restoration, and adaptation.
The first phase called for stabilizing the building by
addressing short-term issues. Upgrading the electrical
and fire alarm systems topped the list of immediate
needs, followed by smaller maintenance projects. In
the next phase, a team of congregation members and
The simple exterior of architect John Wells’ Newport Congregational
Church in Newport, RI, belies a richly detailed interior decorative
program by John LaFarge. Photo courtesy of LaFarge Restoration
Fund: Aaron Usher, photographer.
Sacred Places • Fall 2013 • 16