Old Church nears end of complete restoration

CORRALES — The "Heart of Corrales" is nearing the end of its facelift after the village community came out in droves with funds and support for it.

The Old San Ysidro Church got quite the update this summer after 166 years in existence. Anne Van Camp, the Corrales Historical Society president, said there are some last parts to complete in the restoration of the Old Church.

"They're really getting close to being done, so that's great," she said in an interview Aug. 28.

Van Camp explained that the project began with the help of a state grant in the amount of $275,000. But as work began, demands of the construction required more funding.

"Once we got started, we realized that we were going to need a lot more money because they found a lot more damage to the underlying walls than we anticipated, and so they were going to require a lot more patching. It was going to take a lot more work to get just the walls done. We looked up the electrical work, that was all a mess, too, so we really needed to be able to rewire the entire church and at the same time we said, 'Well in the middle of all this, this would be a good time to try to upgrade the air conditioning and heating system, too," she said.

On top of the state grant, CHS received donations from the village, Kiwanis and hundreds of general community supporters through the Restore Old Church Kindly fundraiser, which started earlier this summer. After everything, Van Camp estimates they received around $600,000 for the restoration.

"They turned out, and our members and individuals were just incredibly generous," she said.

CHS also received a $10,000 donation from Music in Corrales, an organization that has held concerts for 39 years.

"The Old Church is the heart of Corrales history and culture," Music in Corrales President John Schumann said.

He added that the donation is the organization's way of committing to the Corrales community itself as well as the Old Church.

"We believe that the power of music helps strengthen the social fabric of our community," Schumann said.

Part of the reason the project requires so much money is the historical accuracy needed from the construction standpoint as well as the complex nature of it, according to Van Camp.

"You need a company that knows how to do a historic restoration as well. It's not just like you hire just anybody to do this one," she said.

She complimented the crews working on the church, stating they have done a "beautiful" job.

"The challenges for the walls themselves was that the walls really hadn't been taken down to their original foundation in 150 years, since the building was originally built," Van Camp said.

Upon getting a good look at the original walls, CHS realized that the plaster was not applied evenly throughout the church, she said. "At different places in the walls, it was maybe 2 inches of plaster, but in other places, it was 8 inches, so the difference made the walls very uneven."

They also realized the flooring, which had been updated in 2020, was not flush to the wall as previously thought. The flooring was finished up Thursday, this time properly aligned with the walls.

"We kind of wanted to bring it back to its original glory but also make it modern by putting the air conditioning and upgrading heating. We can (now) use the building all year round," Van Camp said.

Prior to the restoration, CHS wasn't able to host as many events in the summer. Now, Van Camp said, they look forward to hosting more personal events. Though, she said, they have a pretty busy schedule throughout the year, even without it being open for the summer.

Though the church does not operate as a church any more, CHS encourages weddings, as many generations of founding families have done.

"You probably can't find anybody in Corrales who doesn't have some kind of a memory or a good feeling about church, and they're families who've been there for a long time, who remember when it was a church and all their own family history is tied up with the church," Van Camp said.

"But I think even people who are newcomers or more temporary audiences could love it. It is a really special place."

The last bit left of the restoration is the sacristy, which is the priest's preparation room, according to CHS.