Goddard Chapel reopens

A recently renovated Goddard Chapel greeted Tufts students returning to campus this semester. The Tufts community had been unable to use the chapel since restoration of the 119-year-old edifice began last May.

The renovation project, which cost an estimated $2.3 million dollars, was the first major work done on the building since its construction in 1882, University Chaplain Father David O'Leary said. The renovation was one of several projects to be completed this year under Tufts' Deferred Maintenance Program.

The Deferred Maintenance Program sets aside money each year in order to meet the needs of a backlog of University maintenance projects. The program was expanded in 1996 as part of a "University-wide recognition of the need to maintain the University's physical assets," said Vice President of Operations John Roberto.

According to Roberto, the program now allocates between $10-12 million dollars a year for repairs on major building components to make the structures serviceable.

Although approximately $2.5 million dollars was allocated for the project, final costs for the restorations are expected to come in under that figure, at around $2.3 million, Roberto said. The money was primarily devoted to exterior repairs aimed at strengthening the aging building, including waterproofing and patching the slate roof, cleaning the stained glass windows, and repairing the foundation, Roberto said earlier this month.

Additionally, a light was placed at the top of the bell tower, another section of the building to receive some much-needed structural repair. "From a distance there will always be a 'Light on a Hill'," Father O'Leary told Tufts Magazine earlier this year.

While the main focus of the project was on the building's exterior, the University also funded some interior renovations such as new paint and carpeting for several chapel offices and the restoration of the chapel's Hook and Hastings organ, Father O' Leary said. Workers also stripped a coat of light blue paint from the ceiling to reveal a light colored wood.

Although the University paid for these most recent repairs, Father O' Leary has created the Friends of Goddard Chapel fund to allow for continued improvements to be made to the historic sanctuary. O'Leary says that he hopes to use this money to finance additional programming and to purchase things such as an air conditioning system and new cushioning for the chapel's seats.

Faculty and students alike were happy to see the chapel reopened. "It's wonderful to see Goddard Chapel being such a central part of the campus again," sophomore Lindsay McNeil said. "I now enjoy attending Catholic mass on campus, and appreciate the close proximity and new atmosphere."

The chapel will be officially rededicated during a March 13 ceremony featuring the presentation of the Russell Lectureship to Reverend Peter Gomes of Harvard University.