SUMNER HILL—The rectory for St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is located at 24 Alveston St., is slated for a major renovation that will split the 4,000-square-foot house into two units, according to Franklyn Salimbene. St. John’s Episcopal Church is located nearby at 1 Roanoke Ave.
One unit will be either sold or leased to pay for the renovation, while the church will continue to use the other unit as a rectory, said Salimbene, who chairs the church’s rectory committee.
He said that after Rev. Anne Fowler stepped down as rector last summer, the church had “an opportunity to look at the building” and realized that “significant work needed to be done to upgrade the rectory to good quality.”
Salimbene said that the upgrades were estimated to cost around $200,000, money the church does not have in its budget. He said that was when St. John’s made the decision to split the building into two units. He said the finance committee will make the decision whether to sell or lease one of the units.
Salimbene said that the project will need to get City approval, as it will need a variance, as well as approval from the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts.
He said that 24 Alveston St. first became a rectory in 1922 when a church member gave it to St. John’s for that purpose.
“Not a lot of work has been done to the house since that day,” said Salimbene.
The rectory for St. John’s Episcopal Church, which is located at 24 Alveston St. and is slated for a major renovation. (Gazette Photo by Peter Shanley)