The team at Greenleaf painters thrives on projects involving historic houses of worship. As lovers of history, we take pride in revitalizing historic buildings, using our expertise to carefully brighten a building’s aesthetics, while helping it last for future generations.
Thanks to the word of mouth of our community, we have worked on many area historic churches and other religious buildings. Using our skillset of precision and care uniquely suited for historic building restoration, we utilize our knowledge of the latest paints from Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore to preserve and restore a structure’s look and feel.
A Personal Background with Church Buildings
It’s no coincidence that our founder, Jonathan Shenk, is an ordained Presbyterian minister, with a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, NYC. Church preservation is in his blood, as he is a third-generation child of missionaries to East Africa. His grandfather, Clyde, was a Mennonite missionary who built churches, a health clinic and other structures in Tanzania.
“My grandfather was both a community leader and a talented builder,” says Shenk. “I never set out to walk in his footsteps, but I find myself walking a path that is interestingly similar!”
Our Work in Painting and Restoring Historic Churches
Jonathan and the team have worked to help restore and update 20 churches and other religious buildings in Eastern Pennsylvania and Central New Jersey. Not only are these buildings houses of worship, but they’re historical landmarks in their respective communities. Playing a part in keeping them up-to-date and making sure that they endure is an honor and a privilege.
Some of our work has even saved churches from being torn down. Ewing Presbyterian Church, built in 1867, had fallen into disrepair over the years, and was deemed structurally unsound. Greenleaf partnered with Schulte Restoration (now Alloway) to bring the historic church back into good structural standing, as well as giving it fresh paint and plaster, allowing it to remain open and continue serving the community and its parishioners.
We’ve worked on a variety of projects, some of which include the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church (where Jonathan was an associate pastor for six years). Here is a list of the houses of worship and yoga centers we have worked on over the years. Most but not all are historic:
St. Alphonsus Church, (Catholic) Hopewell
1867 Sanctuary (Presbyterian), Ewing
Nassau Presbyterian Church
Trinity Church (Episcopal) Princeton
Friends Meeting House, Trenton (Quaker)
African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church, Yardley
Kehilat HaNahar, New Hope, PA
Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
Princeton Baptist Church
Dutch Neck Presbyterian Church
Hopewell Presbyterian Church
Kingston Presbyterian Church
A Jewish Center in Mercer County
NextGen Church, West Windsor
Liquid Church, Princeton
First Baptist Church of Hightstown
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Trenton
Khalsa Healing Arts & Yoga Center, Yardley
Studio Zen, Yardley
Integral Yoga Institute of Princeton
See some more of our work:
Need Your Historic Place of Worship Updated? Contact Greenleaf
Are you associated with an area house of worship that needs to be restored, maintained or finished? Although we’ve been discussing historic preservation here, we want to point out that we also paint new construction and everything in between! Let us know if we can help you.
