Historic Navy chapel could serve the community in new ways

Published: May 13, 2009

The Eternal Father of the Sea Chapel image by:

NORTH CHARLESTON — An historic chapel on the former Navy base could one day look familiar on the outside, but lead an entirely new life on the inside.

After a semester-long feasibility study of the Eternal Father of the Sea chapel, 11 graduate students in historic preservation, a program offered jointly by Clemson University and the College of Charleston, recommended three alternatives for the chapel’s future use beyond a place of worship:

• Office space
• Community/event space
• Restaurant

The students heard overwhelmingly from the local community that the chapel be used as a public space. The chapel remains important to many people across the country who served at the Navy base and still have some affection for the building.

Instructor Jeremy Wells said the students found that the chapel is historically significant with a high degree of historical integrity, and that any future use should respect these characteristics.

“They identified several uses for the building that would produce a cash flow sufficient enough to cover debt service for a significant portion of the rehabilitation expenses,” he said.

For the three recommendations, the students estimated renovation costs for office space, event space and a restaurant of $290,000, $306,000 and $307,000, respectively.

While the restaurant option comes with the biggest price tag and would require the most remodeling, including the addition of a commercial kitchen, it would offer the greatest return in terms of net income, the students determined.

The chapel sits on the Clemson University Restoration Institute’s technology campus in North Charleston. In lockstep with key elements of the institute’s mission and vision — collaborative restoration research — the building’s future use must be sustainable, Wells said.

The institute’s mission is to stimulate the economy through restoration and rehabilitation. As with other areas of the campus, the institute is seeking private partners to help rehabilitate the chapel and, in turn, spur economic growth.

For the project, the class had to understand the chapel’s historical significance, identify problems with deterioration and structural deficiencies and develop an economically feasible rehabilitation plan for the building.

The students first documented the chapel’s history and catalogued its defining features. They then considered preservation and design changes for the building’s possible future use.

The Eternal Father of the Sea chapel was built during World War II as a place of worship for military personnel, government workers and their families and others. The chapel saw countless services, weddings and other events until the U.S. Navy left the base in the late 1990s.

Extensive termite and structural damage threatened the chapel’s existence until June 2007, when the city of North Charleston stepped in and spent more than $140,000 to repair the support structure, among other improvements.

The chapel is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, but must be formally nominated.

For Wells’ students, access to the Restoration Institute technology campus was a chance to gain valuable hands-on site experience and to study a one-of-a-kind historic landmark.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to get up close and personal with this building,” said student Eileen Grogan.

END

On the Web
To view the study online, visit: http://www.clemson.edu/caah/pla/mhp/student/chapel.html.

The Clemson University Restoration Institute
The mission of the Clemson University Restoration Institute is to advance knowledge in integrative approaches to the restoration and sustainability of historic, ecological and urban infrastructure resources, and drive economic growth. The institute’s vision is to build a sustainable future through education, collaborative restoration research and strategic partnerships. For more information, go to www.clemson.edu/restoration/.