Gesu repainting earns Craftsmanship Award

MIAMI | Proietto Painting has won the Craftsmanship Award from the Construction Association of South Florida for the repair and painting of historic Gesu Church in downtown Miami.

Based in Fort Lauderdale and founded by Louis Proietto, the company is known for high profile projects such as some of the Walt Disney World Resorts, the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota and Homestead Hospital among others. 

Gesu was repaired between April 2012 and March 2013. The colors chosen for the outside of the church were persimmon (top of the building) and red sand (bottom part). The colors were selected by the historical society, since the Gesu church building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1974. While the church was being painted, structural cracks also were repaired.

Gesu Church is the oldest Catholic Church in Miami, established in 1896, several months before the City of Miami was incorporated. The original wooden church was built on land donated by Henry M. Flagler. As Miami began to grow, the need for a larger church led to the design of a concrete and steel structure in 1921. This new church was dedicated in 1925. 

Located in the heart of downtown Miami, Gesu is one of the few institutions that preserve the history of the city. Soldiers from the Spanish American War worshipped in Gesu in 1898 as did other veterans during World War I and World War II. The Jesuit Fathers were instrumental in the establishment of Gesu Church and continue to staff it to this day.

From 1905 until 1982, Gesu Church also housed Gesu School, which provided elementary and high school education and was operated by the Sisters of St. Joseph.  Centro Hispano Cat�lico was located at Gesu from 1959 to 1982; it provided Cubans and other Central American refugees with food, clothes, medical care, jobs, housing and other types of assistance. In 1962, Gesu also served as a center for Operation Pedro Pan which brought 14,000 unaccompanied children from Cuba. Gesu even housed Belen Jesuit Preparatory School for a year and a half in 1961, after the school was exiled from Cuba; this marked Belen Jesuit�s beginnings in Miami.