Onion Dome
Will Sparkle Anew

For 45 years you could easily have passed by a quiet and leafy corner of Westville without noticing the recessed church and its Russian-style dome high above, and streaked grey by age and pollution. No longer.

Damaged by last winter’s storm, the dome is being completely rebuilt. Workers will soon hoist it back into place, where it will shine above the tree line with no fewer than 400 diamond-shaped shingles and 500 rosettes all of gleaming new copper.

The dramatic work on a neighborhood icon is taking place at the The Holy Transfiguration Russian Orthodox Church.

The congregation was founded on Dixwell Avenue in 1915. It moved to the present site in a new building on Alden and Burton in 1967, with a dome that was, to the say the least, not made to last the ages. The dome boasted not the classic diamond texture but horizontal lines showing the seams of sheet metal.

The dome style originated in the Byzantine Empire, where the Eastern Church was founded. Its aim is to help worshippers witness God, said Father Michael Westerberg, who leads the 150-member church.

When the regular dome-shaped architectural style migrated to colder climates, the onion shape was adapted to provide more support to shed the Russian snows.

Holy Transfiguration’s 30-foot high dome received some TLC in the mid-1980s, but apparently not enough.

Last December, following Tropical Storm Irene and subsequent storms, ​“I stepped out[side] to do some work. I noticed a clip [ a metal fastener] on the back porch,” Westerberg recalled. He knew instantly where it had come from.

It was a bad sign. He looked up.

Enter Paul Levertue of Woodbridge Roofing, a company with a long history of repairing church roofs but never an onion dome.

When Levertue climbed up, he recalled, ​“I found significant damage: metal panels were flapping in the wind.” The police came to secure the property while Levertue secured the flapping copper high above.

In April the mansard base for the dome was repaired, the building was power-washed, and the dome was removed and placed under a huge blue tarp in the church parking lot.

On Thursday a crew of eight workers climbed up and down extensive scaffolding to put their saws, screw guns, and attention to detail to use.

That has involved de-rusting and repairing the steel skeleton; scoring the plywood so it makes appropriate onion-shaped curves, extensive planing, and then affixing the wood with thousands of rust-resistant stainless steel screws. Over the skeleton will go 400 copper diamonds in a classic pattern.

“Since it required the repair, we’re making it as attractive and traditional as possible,” said Westerberg.

Levertue called it a ​“once in a lifetime project” that throws something new at him and his crew every day.

The insurance is paying a big hunk, but likely not all. ​“I’m taking care of the difference. I call it my tithing. It’s between me, my wife, and God,” said Levertue. He said his company recently finished installing new copper roofs at St. John’s Episcopal Church at Orange and Humphrey.

“The day we found him, our angels were working overtime,” said Father Westerberg.

If all goes well, a crane will hoist the finished dome into place atop the church in two weeks. With all the new copper and screws to face the ages, Levertue estimated, it will weigh close to five tons.

“We don’t want to do this every 20 years,” said Westerberg. Just to make sure, after the crane has done its job, the congregation will hold a formal ceremony and a blessing.