‘Fish Church’ awarded grant; tours on Saturday

2022-09-10 02:22:34 By : Ms. Vickie Mao

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The “Fish Church,” one of Fairfield County’s exemplary 20th century buildings will be open for tours on Saturday.

The First Presbyterian Church on Bedford Street is also called "The Fish Church" because of its unique shape reminds people of a fish or whale.

The sanctuary, made of precast concrete panels, contains more than 20,000 pieces of dalle de verre glass in 86 hues. The carillon tower of reinforced concrete rises 260 feet and contains 56 bells comprising four and one half octaves. Both the sanctuary (1958) and the carillon (1968) were designed by Wallace K. Harrison.

On Wednesday, the church announced that the Getty Foundation has awarded it the $130,000 for compressive management plan for the buildings. The grant by the Getty Foundation for “exemplary 20th century buildings as part of its Keeping It Modern initiative.

“Through the years the church's congregation has managed problems of water infiltration, aging infrastructure and deterioration of the stained glass as they developed,” the Highland Green Foundation, a nonprofit corporation affiliated with the church, said in a release. “The Getty grant will enable a team of preservation experts, engineering consultants and material scientists to survey, document and study the site. The results will form a conservation management plan that will guide future interventions and maintenance at this site and can also be applied to other modern buildings with dalle de verre glass.”

"Visit The Fish" tour day will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Visitors can do a self-guided tour or a docent led tour. Jim Wetherald, Minister of Music, will give a presentation "Music in Harrison’s Sapphire" at 1 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church of Stamford is located at 1101 Bedford Street, 1.3 miles north of the Stamford Metro-North station and I-95.