The parish of St. Matthew the Evangelist Church is starting to rebuild after a fire took place at their Albion Road location in November, 2017. The final site plan was unanimously approved at the North Royalton Planning Commission at their April 3 meeting.
St. Matthews has been in North Royalton for 27 years. They purchased the church then and installed an addition about 17 years ago. They have about 250 parishioners from all over the west and south side.
On Saturday, November 11, 2017, the North Royalton Fire Department was called to St. Matthew the Evangelist Church at 10383 Albion Road. The call was made from the church’s Pastor, Father Andrew Harmon. Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the church. There was significant fire, smoke and water damage. Luckily, no one was injured. “I was on the opposite end of the building when I heard the smoke detector go off,” said Pastor, Father Harmon. “Once it got going, it really went fast. The Fire Department was just wonderful,” said Harmon. “They got here fast and they were here all day.” “The reliquary of St. Mary of Egypt was heavily damaged, but the relic was not consumed. The Antimons were spared as was the reserved host,” said Fr. Harmon. “Very little else was saved.”
A fund raising effort took place shortly thereafter to help offset the costs of the reconstruction and restoration. This was added to an already established building fund that was established over ten years ago. “ The original plan was to expand in 2019. That would have been a simple expansion,” said Father Harmon.
According to the Planning Commission application, the project consists of the replacement of the church, which will be about 4,107 square feet. It will consist of a new temple, narthex and breezeway, which will connect the church to the existing Fellowship Hall, incorporating a new front entrance and new courtyard space between the sanctuary and the hall. In accordance with Orthodox ecclesiastical requirements, the alter will face east. The west end of the temple contains the entrance narthex, bride’s room and breezeway, which will also serve as an entrance to the church. The entrance and breezeway will be clad in stone veneer and above the entrance doors will feature St. Matthew. As with the central feature of many Orthodox churches, there will be a cupola/dome that will be located at the crossing of the nave and aspes.
The architect for the project is Cupkovic Architecture, from Independence. According to Cupkovic representative, Susan Moore, the Fellowship Hall renovation is currently underway. The interior, which had to be fully gutted, is now being redone, with a small addition. As far as the sanctuary, “hopefully, we would like to start in June.” Moore said that the timeline for the completion at this point is some time in November, but is weather-dependent. She said that the church officials would like to have the project completed in November to celebrate a special day in November that is dedicated to St. Matthew.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer