Restored Steeple at World’s Folk Art Church

Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden recently announced the following update regarding the exterior restoration of the World’s Folk Art Church, Paradise Garden’s signature structure: Workers recently placed the restored steeple on the church designed and built by the Rev. Howard Finster in the late 1980s. The top two tiers of the wedding cake-style building have been stabilized as part of the work to waterproof the church.

The initial funding of this project by the National Endowment for the Arts supported a restoration plan to save the building and take immediate stabilization measures. This work halts further decay of the National Register of Historic Places landmark.

The Paradise Garden Foundation thanks the National Endowment for the Arts for providing support (through an ArtWorks grant) to create the restoration plan that has secured the World’s Folk Art Church and provided a pathway to full restoration over the next few years.

Many thanks also to Paradise Garden Foundation board member Eddy Willingham, who, as project manager, contributed hundreds of volunteer hours leading the team in Summerville. A special thank you to historic architectural firm Lord Aeck Sargent (especially its architects and structural engineer), River Ridge Construction, Paradise Garden staff and the Paradise Garden Foundation board’s Garden & Grounds Committee.