Preserving a Beacon. Powering a Community.
We are at an urgent crossroads.
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity is launching a $5 million dollar campaign to restore our Tower and East Façade, in order to secure the structure and long-term future of our building that serves as an important community resource. We need your help to repair this cherished neighborhood landmark.
Please give! Your investment in this project will help sustain a vital community resource for arts and culture, civic discourse, and service to our neighbors in need. Without action, our building and our future are at risk.
This is more than a capital project. It is a bold act of faith. In a time when funding for the arts, social services, and historic preservation is rapidly declining, your support sends a resounding message: We believe in beauty. We believe in community. We believe in each other.
Please select Capital Campaign from the fund drop-down menu to support our restoration project. It takes many hearts and hands to power this community, and we are so grateful to count on your generosity!
Announcing Our Capital Campaign–February 2026
We’ve done it! We’ve launched the Capital Campaign to Restore the Tower and East Façade of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral.
Early this year, we began the silent phase of the campaign and now we are pivoting to the public phase.
Since we were awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places in 2021 for what we then called the Tower Restoration Project, we have proceeded steadily toward getting to work preserving the exterior of our historic building. We assembled a team to oversee and manage the project, including our architect Lisa Easton, lead contractor for Milan Restoration Company Marko Golubovic, and Episcopal Real Estate of Long Island. Most recently, we engaged Partners for Sacred Places to provide capital campaign consulting services.
Let’s celebrate our progress in preserving the beacon that powers this community!
Tower Restoration Project Update–September 2025
There’s more progress to report on our tower project. The organ removal was completed in early August, and scaffolding was erected inside and around the entire exterior of the tower. More recently, the stone has been digitally scanned to determine where and how it needs to be repaired. Asbestos testing of the roof is in process and, once the results are available, we expect a permit to be issued and for the restoration to begin in earnest, most likely by mid-September.
A Message from the Rector: Tower Restoration Project Update–July 2025
Dear Friends,
As many of you know, we will soon begin a long-awaited restoration project on our church tower. In preparation for the work, we were advised by our architect and contractor to remove our landmark E.M. Skinner organ in order to protect it from damage during construction.
Removing the instrument, including over 4,700 pipes and a console that weighs 1,000+ pounds is an enormous undertaking that will require building extensive scaffolding in our sanctuary. The work will begin on Monday, July 7, and continue for 4–5 weeks.
During that time we will worship on Sundays at 10:30am and Wednesdays at 6:00pm in the Parish Hall, entering through the Parish House door at 157 Montague Street. This will be familiar to those of you who were members of our community during a 9-month ceiling stabilization project in 2016–2017 and new to others. I believe you all will enjoy the experience of worshiping together in this alternative space as the excitement about our work on the church continues to build.
We will have more to share with you about the status of the tower project very soon.
I feel blessed to be part of all that is happening in our parish and I am deeply grateful for your flexibility, goodwill and continued commitment to the mission of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity to be a beacon of light and to extend love and hope in Christ’s name at the intersection of Clinton and Montague Streets in Brooklyn Heights and beyond!
Faithfully yours,
Canon John
A Message from the Vestry of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral–May 22, 2025
For many years now, parish leaders at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity have worked to find a way to restore our landmark church that houses vital ministries and community events that draw in many people each week.
We are reminded of the need for restoration every time we come in and out of the building. Scaffolding and a sidewalk shed have been up for decades, not because we have been doing active construction, but to make sure we are protecting people due to the vulnerable state of the church exterior.
St. Ann’s vestry is very happy to share that our church has just signed a contract with a construction company to begin restoration work on our tower!
This is going to be a big project, which will involve removing the organ and having construction crews in and around our building. It’s also going to take a lot of resources, more than we have now, and we are in the early stages of preparing for a capital campaign to bring our community together to support it.
You’ll be getting a lot of updates as the work proceeds. We encourage you to bring your questions to the clergy and members of the vestry and we ask your patience when we don’t have answers, particularly as things are getting started.
We are incredibly excited because preserving our building ensures that we can continue to use our beautiful sanctuary for worship and programs that forward our mission of loving service for the sake of the Gospel and the common good.
We ask your prayers and thank you for supporting us in every way you can as we take this big, hopeful step to invest in the future of our church!
St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church Receives a $250,000 Grant Towards Restoring the Church’s Tower–October 2021
Brooklyn, New York, October 22, 2021—Historic St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn, New York, was awarded a matching grant of $250,000 from The National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The funds will help stabilize and restore the deteriorating exterior of the church’s tower.
Canon John E. Denaro, rector of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church and Pro-Cathedral, welcomed the news of the grant award, stating, “We are thrilled and grateful that this grant will open a path to long overdue repair and strengthening of the tower’s masonry, which has suffered substantial weathering, material loss and damage over the years. We are confident that our members and friends will want to join our efforts to raise matching funds to restore our treasured building that has long served the community.”
The National Fund for Sacred Places is a highly competitive program that supports congregations with buildings that have historical significance and architectural character and that play an essential role in meeting the larger social, economic, and spiritual needs of the communities they serve. Its capital grants for brick-and-mortar projects are intended to leverage broader energy, resources and dollars for urgent capital projects beyond the internal capacity of the congregation and the National Fund grant itself. For this reason, all participating congregations are required to raise matching dollars for their capital grant award.
The church is a vital hub for programming at the intersection of faith and culture, produced in partnership with arts and social organizations. It hosts a summer concert series and the annual Brooklyn Folk Festival, the MOTH, book readings, theater, and numerous music and cultural events. Its weekly Pop-Up Pantry provides non-perishable staples and fresh food to the equivalent of some 1,000 members of the community every month.
Built in 1847 and designed by the architect Minard, the church is an important example of Gothic Revival architecture in the U.S. The famous suite of stained-glass windows, designed by William Jay Bolton, is the first set of figural stained-glass windows produced in North America.
National Fund for Sacred Places
The National Fund for Sacred Places is a Philadelphia-based grant-making program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. www.fundforsacredplaces.org
About Partners for Sacred Places
Partners for Sacred Places helps congregations and others with a stake in older religious properties make the most of them as civic assets that serve the broader community. www.sacredplaces.org/
About the National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately-funded nonprofit organization that works to save America’s historic places to enrich our future. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is committed to protecting America’s rich cultural legacy and helping build vibrant, sustainable communities that reflect our nation’s diversity. Follow us on Twitter @savingplaces.
A 360° panoramic view of the interior of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church
Jeremy Seto made this 360° panorama of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church’s interior on a May 22, 2016, visit to the church and has generously shared it with us.
