Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church – a Newtown Jewel – featured on Holiday House Tour

NbWTOWN BOoOUGH – cor its diminutive size, Newtown Borough is home to many beautiful places of worship. This year, the Newtown Historic Association will feature one of them - St Luke’s bpiscopal Church on Washington Avenue - during its Holiday House Tour on Saturday, Dec. 1.

This brick Gothic oevival church dates back to 1832.

Once inside St Luke’s, tour-goers will be transported to a much earlier time - a time when St Luke’s was unheated, when the box pews sported doors to keep out the drafts, when parishionHUV EURuJKW WLn IRRW wDUPHUV fiOOHG wLWK KRW FRDOV WR VWDvH off the cold and when church pews were rented to help support the parish.

Since its founding, the building has undergone additions and renovations, all thoughtfully done to retain the style and spirit of the original church.

Tour-goers will appreciate the dark brown random-width flRRU ERDUGV RI WKH FKuUFK, the white woodwork, the hammered tin ceiling and beams, all softened by the light that streams through the church’s eight stainglass windows.

The church’s altarpiece, The Coronation of the Virgin, a copy of the 1485 original by Andrea Della oobbia, is the focal point of the sanctuary. The heavy plaster sculpture was created from D fiUVW JHnHUDWLRn FDVW RwnHG by the Boston Museum and given by the oeeder family to celebrate the centennial of St Luke’s. Unfortunately for the museum, the molds were damaged beyond repair in the casting process, making St Luke’s copy the only one of its kind in the United States. Della oobbia’s terra cotta original is in a convent chapel in Siena, Italy.

On tour day, visitors are invited to stop by St Luke’s for the history, but also enjoy all of the planned activities at the Church.

There will be performances by the church organist and the children’s choir, a mid-day soup luncheon on the secRnG flRRU RI WKH 3DULVK HRuVH, D IUHVK JUHHnV VDOH RuWVLGH and a Christmas Charity Bazaar. Proceeds from the bazaar will go to local charities. The bazaar will include homemade baked items, handmade craft, local art, a silent auction and Paul’s Attic.

“gust make Paul an offer and it’s yours,” says goan gohnston, a parishioner of St Luke’s.