St. Timothy’s - Winston-Salem, North Carolina

St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Winston-Salem, NC, is a community known for both its charitable activities and its beautiful liturgy, drawing parishioners from as far away as Virginia. However, its traditional worship clashes with the bare modern interior of their church. Cram and Ferguson worked with rector Fr. Steven C. Rice and members of its vestry to produce a more transcendent vision for their church building.

The overall interior renovation and sacristy/vestry addition addresses both aesthetic and practical shortcomings of the current structure. The interior will now draw the eye to the chancel with a series of arches along the nave, with a new carved altarpiece and altar as the entire focus of the church. At its heart will be a traditional painted image depicting Biblical scenes. Above, stenciling depicting roses and lilies representing the Crucifixion and Resurrection connects the reredos visually with the new set of Gothic windows above. An elevated pulpit and sounding board, new carved altar rail, paneling, and clergy seating further dignify the renewed space.

An addition to the south of the chancel houses a new vestry, creating a place of prayer and preparation for before the liturgy, as well as ample vestment storage. The lower story of the new vestry is a future location for a parish columbarium in the form of a small crypt chapel. The existing sacristy was reconfigured to add more storage space and a dedicated area for incense preparation.

At the rear of the church, an extended choirloft makes up for seating lost to a previous organ installation, as well as providing an opportunity for a permanent font, a location for adult baptisms, and a more defined architectural and liturgical space for the baptistery overall.

A masterplan and presentation renderings showcasing this new vision for the parish led to a successful capital campaign construction was completed in Spring 2021.