For the relocation and restoration of All Saints Chapel, a Carpenter Gothic-style church that was threatened with demolition but now serves as a special events venue in downtown.

The 1874 Church of the Good Shepherd on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh was designed by Bavarian-born Jonannes Oertel. Oertel studied to become a priest, but instead became a nationally renowned painter and engraver. He also designed a handful of buildings, including Episcopal churches in Burlington and Lenoir. Designed in a gothic cross configuration, the church in Raleigh reflected Oertel’s vision of European grandeur on a modest scale.

By 1914, this structure was moved to the rear of the lot, making way for a large new sanctuary, and it was renamed All Saints Chapel. By 2003, the chapel’s beauty was but a memory. The building was used for storage, maintenance was minimal, and cheap opaque glass filled the clerestory windows.

After the designs for the church’s new Parish Life Center were approved, the fate of the gothic chapel suddenly changed. Church leaders announced plans for its demolition. But as it turned out, the story was not quite over. When efforts to preserve the structure on site proved futile, moving the structure elsewhere became the only alternative.

Raleigh developer Greg Hatem and his firm, Empire Properties, accepted the challenge of moving and restoring the 3,000-square-foot structure. In June, 2006, the chapel — all 235,000 pounds of it — was carefully relocated to a lot on East Street, where restoration work began.

Workers gave the structure its first TLC in decades. They removed unsympathetic alterations, constructed a small addition for bathrooms and a kitchen, and excavated a full basement. Restoration of the original stained glass windows was undertaken with financial help from the Good Shepherd congregation.

Today, the chapel once again exudes the grace and beauty that its designer intended. The elegant clerestory windows illuminate original tongue-and-groove wainscot, corbelled arch wall posts, and molded cornices. Standing proudly as one of only two examples of the Carpenter Gothic Revival style in Raleigh, the chapel is a highly sought-after venue for weddings, receptions and other special functions.

Preservation North Carolina is pleased to recognize Empire Properties with a Gertrude S. Carraway Award of Merit for its initiative and significant investment in saving this special little gothic chapel in downtown Raleigh.