Projects

The prestigious St. Aloysius Gonzaga Church, dedicated to the 16th century Jesuit saint, was built in 1859. In the years since, the Church has undergone several renovations and continues its historic designation on the National Registry. Most recently, APM assisted Gonzaga College High School with a complex interior painting and specialty restoration of the Church performed by Coakley & Williams Construction. The main altar high ceiling and starburst feature posed the most challenges to access. As the Church’s structure is just over 160 years old, the main challenge was figuring out how not to place the scaffold loads directly onto the altar floor as the Church is a historic wood frame structure at the floor level. APM worked with the Structural Engineer and a scaffolding contractor to design a cantilevered platform supported by the altar’s masonry bearing sidewalls instead of direct support on the wood joist floor structure. The other aspect of this restoration was the coordination and refurbishment work of the Church’s organ instrument with the School’s organ maintenance firm, Lewis & Hitchcock. The organ builder removed the instrument and windpipe components to refurbish the unit offsite while the balcony level high ceiling was painted. Following the completion of the high ceiling painting, APM continued to work with the organ builder to reinstall the newly repaired organ unit back to its original location.