On May 15, it will be five years since fire ravaged the 1878 cream city brick Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, 1046 N. 9th St.. While many of us feared for the future of the Frederick Velguth-designed Gothic Revival landmark at the time, the church survived.

Thanks to numerous artisans, construction workers, architects, church employees, folks who donated, and others – many of whom have donated their services – Trinity continues to mend.

You can read about the history of the church, the fire and work to restore it after the blaze in the numerous articles here.

Master craftsman John Beres of Beres Builders in Wales teamed with another friend of Trinity, Rich Awve, to save charred original beams and mill them into new flooring for the altar that’s being used for services in the undercroft of the church.

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Both volunteered their time. Beres has also donated countless hours to straightening bent parts pulled from the post-fire debris.

Other metalwork that was mangled by falling debris was repaired by Peter Schroeder of Ja-Mar Pattern in Dubuque, Iowa.

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A master metal craftsman, Schroeder spent a year taking apart, straightening, repairing and reassembling the two main 12-foot chandeliers that will be rewired and fitted with new LED bulbs and rehung in the sanctuary.

At the same time, Oakbrook-Esser Studios – with roots in Milwaukee’s old Esser Stained Glass Company – is working to restore art glass windows.

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Owners Paul and Laura Phelps and their highly qualified staff are repairing windows that were made of a a stenciled rather than painted glass that was thinner and more economical than stained glass.

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That original glass was made by George A. Misch and Co., established in Chicago in 1860.

“This is one of the best examples of that glass that was left worldwide,” says Awve.

Oakbrook-Esser, which long benefited from the experience, knowledge and skills of master craftsman Josef Klotz and chief designer John Minten, was given the world-wide license to reproduce Frank Lloyd Wright’s art glass windows by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation of Taliesin West, Arizona.

You can read about some of the early artwork restoration in this article written not long after the fire.

Meanwhile, over at Ben Zuehlsdorf’s West Allis wood shop, which I visited last year, work on the altar, reredos altar screen and communion rail have made great strides and soon, Zuehlsdorf and his team will turn their skills to the pulpit, which is currently in storage for safekeeping.

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These wooden pieces were created at the time of the church’s construction by Julius Bruss and William Wollaeger, though there had been some changes over time, according to Zuehlsdorf, including perpendicular extensions at the front of the communion rail.

“We put the pulpit on the back burner to kind of focus on this work,” says Zuehlsdorf as he outlines what was repaired, what was recreated to replace pieces broken beyond repair and what remains to be done.

“I'd say we're still about 80 percent original on everything. Much of the altar was damaged by fire, but (other pieces) most of it would’ve been the water damage and damage from the (ceiling/roof) collapse.”

One would be hard-pressed to spot the repairs or differences between old and new in the pieces, except, perhaps by peeking inside.

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One of the biggest success stories in terms of woodwork is a finial that sits atop the reredos.

“We brought dozens of buckets full of broken pieces picked up after the fire here to Ben’s shop,” recalls Awve.

From those, literally, thousands of pieces, Dan Ripley identified the 40 pieces that had been part of the finial and reassembled them, leaving no trace that the piece had ever been shattered to bits.

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"I'm a puzzle guy," says Awve, "and even I'm amazed."

Inside the church, which I last visited in December, plaster work continues, which will lead to painting and then removal of the huge scaffolding, which Awve says should begin in early July.

Then, after the floor and a few other tasks are seen to, the sanctuary should be ready for reinstallation of the lights and for Zuehlsdorf and his team to bring back the altar, reredos, communion rail, pulpit and other woodwork for installation.

A good chunk of that work is expected – hoped – to be done by Christmas, though there isn't a plan quite yet for the congregation to move services back upstairs from the undercroft.

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“That's not saying that we won't have a service in there just for the sake of having service up there,” says Awve with a smile.

But a permanent move up from the undercroft remains to be determined.

“All the mechanicals are done and everything will be looking good (by July)," he says. "But there's still a lot of questions, and we'd rather do a little bit more and take our time with it. Do it right.