Grace Episcopal Church in Brooklyn uncovered a star-filled ceiling when they restored the interior of the nave. New York Times reports:
…What had looked until a few months ago like a dull ceiling of plain wood planks turned out to be a dazzling celestial extravaganza of eight-pointed stars in gold, yellow and red — so lacy they might be taken for snowflakes — set in an expansive vault of royal blue.
…
This work was painted over in the early 20th century with a pattern of false wood, or faux bois, perhaps because the exuberant décor had come to be seen as a bit too riotous. The walls were turned government-office beige; the ceiling, lumberyard brown.
However, sharp-eyed parishioners like Margaret Ann Monsor sensed that something fabulous was lurking below the wood grain. The original decoration could still be faintly discerned. “Sometimes, if the sermon wasn’t gripping, I’d look up and see all this detail,” said Ms. Monsor, a leader of the renovation project.
See photos of the ceiling here.





I LOVE THIS CHRISTMAS STORY
I love the surpise, the wonderment, the rebirth, the stars, the gladness of it all.
(LVMH Louis Vuitton, should be so luck to have a eight point star NEW print like that — HOT)
My parish church has some painted over decorations, too – at least some of them were of the inscribed ribbon variety. I’d love to see what’s really under the covering paint.
Bill Dilworth
Beautiful!
JC Fisher