Damaged Tower of Covina Church to Be Torn Down

The 40-foot stone tower of the city’s oldest church must be torn down because of damage sustained in the Feb. 28 earthquake, church officials announced last week.

A granite stone weighing 40 pounds came crashing down from the tower of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at Badillo and 3rd streets during the 5.5-magnitude shaker, according to the Rev. Richard Thomson, the church’s rector.

Engineers were consulted when someone noticed a severe crack snaking down the north side of the fortress-like tower a week later. Private engineering consultants informed church officials on March 21 that the tower will have to go, at a cost of $30,000 to $40,000. Rebuilding could cost $200,000 or more, said engineer Zack Mohammadi of Bock Engineering Inc. of Montclair.

“It’s just a huge, huge disaster for us,” Thomson said. “We’re a struggling church with no reserve funds, and we’re not insured.”

Since late last month, barriers have blocked the front entrance of the building, described by church officials as semi-Gothic in style. Even though the 1910 church is sound, services for the congregation of 200 families will be in the adjacent parish hall until the tower is razed, Thomson said. Last Sunday, during the final services in the church before the move to the parish hall, Thomson offered a plea for funds.

One parishioner has offered to chip in $1,000.

“It would be a shame not to rebuild the tower,” said another churchgoer, Kelly Rice, who was to be married at Holy Trinity yesterday. “It would not be the same without it.”

Rice said her heart sank when she noticed the barriers up. But she decided to go ahead with the wedding in the church’s brick courtyard rather than to hold the ceremony at another church. “It’s just gorgeous,” said Rice, whose sister was married at Holy Trinity, and whose nephew was baptized there. “It’s not just any old church.”

Property damage from the quake now stands at $10.4 million, said Jim Alexander, regional administrator of the state Office of Emergency Services.

Assistant City Manager Fran De Lach said the church damage was the worst reported in Covina.

The original building, a small wooden structure, was built in 1891, according to church literature. But within weeks it was destroyed by a windstorm. Parishioners came up with $1,300, and the next year a new building was consecrated.

That structure was later moved to make way for the present building, which was modeled after an English village church. Stones for the foundation were hauled by wagon from the bed of the San Gabriel River and were hand-hewn and fitted by two Scottish masons.

The stone tower is not outfitted with bells; it broadcasts carillon recordings from loudspeakers twice a day, and church officials plan to move the loudspeakers and continue the broadcasts after the tower is razed. The church is mainly wood, with a vaulted beam ceiling and an elegant altar of granite and marble.

Thomson hopes the tower will be demolished within a month. If there are enough leftover funds, it will be rebuilt, he said.