Plans have been unveiled for the parish’s new library and office extension—and a $150,000 campaign has been launched to cover its cost. The Vestry sincerely hopes parishioners will support this worthy project.
The new extension has been designed by Hayes Construction Inc., which has also been commissioned to carry out the construction when the money has been raised. Hayes is the company that built both the Parish Church and the major addition to the parish hall.
People’s Warden Don Ruthig—who has been working on the project for more than six months—presented Hayes final design concept and cost estimates to the Vestry at its most recent meeting.
Drawings for the extension—to be constructed above the Sacristy, kitchen, toilets, and utility room—will be on display in the reception room outside the sanctuary. They can also be viewed by contacting Mr Ruthig.
Also included in the cost of the project are plans to open the reception room directly on to the courtyard garden when weather permits in spring and summer, and to build a columbarium on the church grounds.
The library and office extension will house the extensive theological library presented to the parish by the Rector earlier this year. It will also provide additional office space for the clergy and treasurer.
The theological library, accumulated by the Rector over the course of his long ministry, includes a wide-ranging collection of commentaries on the scripture, volumes of church history, and theological works.
It also contains many rare books, among them a Prayer Book used at the Coronation of England’s King Edward VII and an exhaustive history of the Episcopal Church published in the late 19th Century, as well as early American Prayer Books.
It is the Rector’s hope that the library will prove to be an important resource not only for members of the parish, but for those within the diocese studying for Holy Orders.
The Vestry decided on the new extension after it determined that the library was too valuable to be housed in the parish hall and reception room. It is also rather too large for the upstairs office with three clergy and the treasurer working out of it—hence the decision to construct a new extension.
By the way, on the Sunday After All Saints, November 3rd, we will be dedicating our parish hall, reception room, and courtyard garden to three of our most notable benefactors: Tom Cadwalader, Joyce Holmes, and Mary Elizabeth and Albert Quimby.
The reception room will be named the Cadwalader Room; the courtyard garden, the Holmes Garden; and the parish hall, the Quimby Hall. Perhaps somebody might be interesting in being named the benefactor of the new library extension.
Please send your contributions to: The Treasurer, St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, 11856 Mays Chapel Road, Timonium. MD 21093. Checks should be marked “Library Appeal.” JOHN COBB & DON RUTHIG
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