L-R: Dan Block, Louis Gonzales and a church employee install the pulpit and staircase at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fredericksburg. Gonzales rebuilt the moldings and woodwork on the pulpit.

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Prior to answering that one request, Block ran a successful antique furniture restoration business.   “A client of mine, that we had redone a ton of antiques for, had a kitchen custom built in Corpus Christi.  She called me and asked, ‘Can you do the same finish on kitchen cabinets?’

“It was exciting and it was something different. The referrals started.  People saw her kitchen and I would get a call.”

The snowball effect rolled into his first commercial project at North Star Mall to custom build, finish and install large cherry benches.

“That was our first really big commercial job and that just started opening doors,” Block said.

A historical door opened when Block received a call from St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fredericksburg about restoring a pulpit. 

“I said, ‘Pulpits – we did some for a synagogue.  No big deal.’” 

This one was different.  Block said the piece was probably built in the mid-1800s and was torn out of the church in 1968 when it was going through a restoration.  Despite its deteriorating condition, Block was amazed at the size and complexity of the project, and appreciated the history the structure represented.

“It is probably one of the true gothic-style churches in Texas.  Walking into the church, I was speechless.

“There is something really exciting about doing something like this, especially when you are on site in this beautiful, old building and you are working on things that were put up a hundred years ago, and there you are, restoring it,” he said.  “You just pour a little bit of yourself into every one of these big jobs, and that’s half the fun of what we do.  It’s not always about the money, but the satisfaction of walking away and knowing we put back history.  It is truly a blessing to have been asked to do this.”   

The work on the pulpit with the attached stairway was challenging, according to Block.  The height required that Block remove ceiling tiles in order to erect the structure in his workshop.

“It is just a frenzy of carvings, a lot of religious icons, crosses. It has all been done in cypress and mahogany. It was 12 coats of lacquer, wet sanded in between every one, a lot of glazing, and a lot of dye staining to enhance the shading. We did it in a satin finish because we didn’t want it to look too new. It is truly a piece of art – we just amplified it.”

Block signed the back of the pulpit and dated it before the installation.

“When I went to Fredericksburg with it I was very nervous, because you never know, but when I got a hug from the gentleman who was paying for it, and from the business manager, I thought, “We are on!’”

The next step for Block is the crown and upper canopy of the pulpit.  “Then they want me to do the confessionals and all the ornate work over the confessionals on site.  It is going to be a little tricky because the church has to continue moving, so it will have to be done in stages.”  –kf 

©2010 Construction News, Ltd